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Open-Door Playhouse
Open-Door Playhouse is a monthly podcast harking back to live radio theater broadcasts. Created to introduce New Plays, New Writers, and… a wealth of unknown talent. Giving them the opportunity to have their works created in sound studios as opposed to live stage productions and presented on the Podcast as “Radio Productions.” Play submissions will be solicited online, outreach centers and word of mouth. Broadcasts will be once a month (to start) and grow as demand requires. Long term goal is to reach out to undeserved writing communities: prisons, school and community groups to provide an avenue to have their voices heard, via plays, short stories or poetry, and to establish Podcast as its own 501c3 organization.To submit your play contact:open-doorplayhouse@gmail.com
Open-Door Playhouse
THEATER 190: Two Shorts - The Fall & A Cup of Jo
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The Fall: High on the last branch of an oak tree, two aging leaves cling to one another on the last day of autumn. As others have already fallen, they reflect on warmth, beauty, and the terrifying mystery of what comes next. Their quiet conversation becomes a meditation on life, love, and loss.
Bernadette Armstrong directs Camille Ameen as Leaf #1 and Gloria Tsai as Leaf #2. Bart Lovins is the playwright. His other plays include Keep the Faith and Pass the Fettuccini, and four Sherlock Holmes plays, The Sign of Four, A Study in Scarlet, The Valley of Fear, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. He is also an actor and director.
A Cup of Jo: A waitress at a diner is fascinated by a handsome and alluring nightly customer named Vlad.
Bernadette Armstrong directs Leona Lovemoor as Jo and Peter Bonoff as Vlad.
Leona Lovemoor is the playwright. She is also an artist and actor.
Founded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception. Open-Door Playhouse has presented Short and One-Act plays from Playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the Play Custody and in 2023 the play What’s Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.
Plays are produced by Bernadette Armstrong, Sound Engineer is David Peters, sound effects are provided by Audio Jungle, and music from Karaoke Version. All plays are recorded at The Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA.
There’s no paywall at the Open-Door Playhouse site, so you could listen to everything for free. Open-Door Playhouse is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and if you would like to support performances of works by new and emerging playwrights, your donation will be gratefully accepted. Your tax-deductible donations help keep our plays on the Podcast Stage. We strive to bring our listeners thoughtful and surprising one-act plays and ten-minute shorts that showcase insightful and new perspectives of the world we share with others. To listen or to donate (or both), go to https://open...
Hello, and welcome to Open Door Playhouse, a theater podcast that celebrates live theater on the podcast stage. I'm Bernadette Armstrong. At Open Door Playhouse, we strive to bring our listeners thoughtful and surprising 10-minute shorts and want-act plays that showcase insightful and new perspectives of the world we share with others. Open Door Playhouse is a 501c3 theater organization. Support for Open Door Playhouse comes from listeners like you. Your tax-deductible donations help keep our plays on the podcast stage. We have a double feature for you today of two short plays. Now playing in Theater 190, The Fall, written by Bart Lovins and directed by Bernadette Armstrong, starring Camille Lamine as Leaf No. Say as Leaf number two. Our second short is A Cup of Joe, written by Leona Lovemore and directed by Bernadette Armstrong, starring Leona Lovemore as Joe and Peter Bonoff as Vlad they used to be.
SPEAKER_05No, you never know.
SPEAKER_06Remember when it was nice and warm and the sunshine gave you some heat? You get a storm or a cloud burst sometimes and lots of us got torn off then. Even them that were still young. In the early summer the trees stood still under the blue sky. They held their arms out wide and received the power of the sun as it streamed down. The bushes in the thicket were coming into bloom with the stars of white or red or yellow. No. You never know who it's gonna happen to next.
SPEAKER_05We don't get much sunshine these days, and even when the sun does shine, there's no strength to it. We've got to get our strength from somewhere else.
SPEAKER_06Do you think it's true? Huh? What's through? I is it true that other leaves will come along and take our place once we've gone? And then another lot? And then another lot?
SPEAKER_05Of course it's true.
SPEAKER_06Only we can't work out how. How what? What are you smiling about? Life Life.
SPEAKER_05It's above what we can't understand.
SPEAKER_06What do you have to go away for anyway? Oh me? What? Oh no. Me.
SPEAKER_05Yes well us rather. What happens to us after we fallen? We sink down.
SPEAKER_06And what is it? What's down there? I don't know. Some say one thing, others say something different. Do you think we feel anything?
SPEAKER_05Do you think we know anything about yourself when you're down there?
SPEAKER_06Who can say? None of them have gone down there, have ever come back to tell us. What? I mean, it's difficult to explain. Have you ever seen a leaf fall up? Oh. Thanna, Vanna. Don't get yourself all upset about the breeze. Here, you're shivering. And still on the branch with me.
SPEAKER_05Oh, don't bother about that. Anything makes me shiver these days. I just don't feel properly attached to where we are.
SPEAKER_06Do you? We'd better stop talking about things like that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we'd better leave it. Who do you think's going to be the first of us to go down there then? Oh dear.
SPEAKER_06It won't be for a while yet. Let's just think about how beautiful summer used to be. How wonderfully beautiful when the sun came out and burned us so hot it seemed we'd just swell up with all the good health it gave us. Remember?
SPEAKER_05Everywhere there was the smell of the fresh foliage, of flowers, of the soil, and of green wood.
SPEAKER_06And all day, from morning to evening, the whole wood was alive with a thousand voices.
SPEAKER_05The birds sang, the wasps buzzed, and the bumblebees buzzed even louder through the fragrant stillness.
SPEAKER_06And then there was the dew early in the morning, and the lime trees oo wonderful nights. Oh the nights are horrible now.
SPEAKER_05They never seem to come to an end.
SPEAKER_06We can't complain. We've lived longer than so many others. Have I changed much? Ah not a bit. Look into my eyes. Oh give over. What? 'Cause I've gone all yellow and ugly No It's gone a bit different for me. Well thank you. Honestly, might be a few yellow stripes here and there, but not so you'd notice.
SPEAKER_05I'm not sure I believe you. But thank you for it. Oh stop now It's only now that I'm starting to understand how Yes It's only now that I'm starting to understand what you said about the bushes. Spring. This is not about fighting. It's about what existed quietly before anyone noticed. On many of them, the buds of fruit were beginning to be seen again.
SPEAKER_06Countless many of them were sitting on the fine tips of the branches, firm and resolute.
SPEAKER_05The bush's buds looked like little clenched fists.
SPEAKER_06Colorful stars of many different flowers. Silent but vigorous and gay. Oh no.
SPEAKER_00He came in so suddenly, I didn't even see him sit at the diner bar. Whoa! Hello.
SPEAKER_02Did I scare you?
SPEAKER_00Oh no, I just uh I didn't see you.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry to startle you. Joe.
SPEAKER_00How do you know my name?
SPEAKER_02It says on your name tag, dear.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_02Are you new here? I've never seen you before.
SPEAKER_00Me? Oh no. I've been here a while, but I just switched to the night shift last week.
SPEAKER_02Ah. Do you prefer the night?
SPEAKER_00It's um kind of boring, actually. But so are my days. So I'm taking classes during the day now to uh well I don't really know what for. I guess I'm looking for something exciting to devote my life to. That's not food service or church.
SPEAKER_02Church.
SPEAKER_00What about you? I haven't seen you before either.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I've been coming here for a long time. You know at night, this place becomes a world all its own. You can see all of the street walkers and night crawlers emerging from the alleys and doing business in the park there. It's almost magical.
SPEAKER_00I love the way he would just say things like that. So what can I get for you, sir?
SPEAKER_02Please, my name is Vlad. Let's keep it at that for now.
SPEAKER_00Okay, Mr. Vlad. What can I get for you?
SPEAKER_02Just Vlad. And how about a cup of coffee, Jo?
SPEAKER_00Right away, sir. Uh I'm Mr. Vlad.
SPEAKER_02Please, just Vlad. And no rush. I'll be here a while.
SPEAKER_00And he would be. He would just sit there letting his coffee get cold while he read the day's paper every night. It got to the point where I wouldn't get bored anymore, because whenever it was slow, we would have these long talks. And I thought he must have been some kind of history buff, or maybe it was the newspaper he always reads, because he just seemed to know everything. He definitely knew everything about how to keep a lady entertained.
SPEAKER_02Though he did say, You know, it has been ages since I've had this special lady friend.
SPEAKER_00And sure, he was strange, but there was something alluring and mysterious about him. He only comes around at night, he never eats or drinks anything. And that accent. I had my suspicions well before he said.
SPEAKER_02Because you smell great, Joe.
SPEAKER_00All of those things just sort of uh confirmed what I already knew. I figured he was a you know. A freak. I mean, I've had my fair share of kinky experiences. Uh sex at the foot of the bed, even once in the shower, but I could tell he was different. The real deal. Cool in the streets, but a real freak in the sheets. Believe you me. So one night, I feel like I just can't stand it. I've had enough of our casual flirtations. I had to make a move. Maybe that was his thing, you know? Maybe European men like dominant women. So I say to him, I say, hey, I want to go out with you.
SPEAKER_02But Joe, I am.
SPEAKER_00Oh, shh, ch You don't have to say it out loud here while I'm on the clock wearing the apron, you know? We don't need to talk about it at all. When you can just show me I'm ready to take a walk on the wild side.
SPEAKER_02But it it really doesn't bother you.
SPEAKER_00Bother me? Come on, let me show you how bothered I am in the back alley.
SPEAKER_02Did you know this whole time?
SPEAKER_00Come on, it's pretty obvious, Vlad.
SPEAKER_02So you know we can't get too close or I'm not frightened, Vladdy.
SPEAKER_00I want it.
SPEAKER_01Damn. Your scent is irresistible.
SPEAKER_00Get a good whiff, baby.
SPEAKER_01Are you sure you're ready?
SPEAKER_00Take me.
SPEAKER_02Let me see that neck of yours.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow. I haven't had a hippie since wait, wait, wait, wait.
SPEAKER_04What are you what are you?
SPEAKER_00I did say I was looking for something to dedicate my life to. And I have to admit, serving Vlad is a lot more exciting than church. He still comes in every night, but instead of getting a cup of coffee, now he gets a cup of Joe.
SPEAKER_03Recorded at the Oak House Studio in Altadena, California, and mixed by our talented sound engineer, David Peters. Sound effects and music downloaded from Audio Jungle and Karaoke version. If you're interested in submitting a play for production, you can find that information on our website, www.opendoorplayhouse.org. Please share this podcast with friends and do not forget to subscribe so you'll be notified when our next production goes live on the podcast. Thank you for listening.