Playwriting Commons^™

The Young Lady's Consent, Christopher O. Kidder

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This play is a translation and adaptation of a Spanish play originally written in 1806 by Leandro Fernández de Moratín, El sí de las niñas. Because that play was not available to English-speaking actors, I translated the work directly from the original Spanish. The resulting manuscript was not the finished product of this play, however. Through a series of workshops with actors trained in a physical method of theatre I devised in order to modernize classic works to a more modern audience's tastes, the script morphed and grew into the play that follows.

Arsenic And Old Lace

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2003 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.

Arsenic and Old Lace is the story about the Brewsters, an insane homicidal family, and the one sane member, Mortimer Brewster, who must decide whether or not to go through with his promise to marry the woman he loves, Elaine Harper, who lives next door.

Arsenic And Old Lace

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2003 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.

The Royal Family

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2002 performance of The Royal Family by _George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber

She Stoops To Conquer

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2000 performance of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.

“The Butler Did It”

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1998 performance of “The Butler Did It” by Tim Kelly.

The Imaginary Invalid

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1996 performance of The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere.

Lost In Yonkers

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1995 performance of Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon.

Lost in Yonkers tells the story of brothers Jay and Arty who are sent to live in Brooklyn with their relatives while their father goes off to work to pay off the medical bills of their recently deceased mother. Set in 1942, the play follows their new life and their attempt to acquire (through various means) the money their father needs to bring him back.

Steel Magnolias

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1994 performance of Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling.

Steel Magnolias is the story of a group of women in a small-town, Southern community. It portrays their friendships and how they respond when one of them dies.

Charley’S Aunt

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1993 performance of Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas.

Charley’s Aunt is the story of Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate persuaded by two of his friends, Jack and Charley, to impersonate Charley’s aunt so they can spend time with they beaus. Their plan is complicated when an elderly fortune hunter tries to woo the fake aunt and Charley’s real aunt appears.

Death Trap

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1993 performance of Deathtrap by Ira Levin.

Deathtrap is a one set, five character play with two acts. It follows the story of a struggling playwright and his student and their development of a one set, five character play called Deathtrap which mirrors the events happening in the play being performed.

The Matchmaker

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1991 performance of The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.

Before the world fell in love with "Hello, Dolly!", Thornton Wilder’s uproarious play "The Matchmaker" introduced Ms. Dolly Gallagher Levi: a cunning, crafty, and thoroughly modern woman who knows a good catch when she sees one. When the wealthy Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Ms. Levi to find him a wife, Dolly doesn't need to look far to find his perfect mate. While Dolly is “arranging things” for Mr. Vandergelder, the young, hopeless romantics of Yonkers reap the rewards of Dolly’s generosity.

I Remember Mama

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1990 performance of I Remember Mama by John van Druten.

I Remember Mama is the story of an immigrated Norwegian family living in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century as told by one of the family’s daughters, Katrin.

The Foreigner

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1989 performance of The Foreigner by Larry Shue.

The Foreigner is the story of two Englishmen Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant Froggy who come to stay at a fishing lodge for a weekend. When Froggy makes up a story about Charlie being a foreigner who cannot understand English to help explain his shyness, Charlie is suddenly exposed to a variety of secrets held by the lodge visitors and becomes the focus of some racist members of the community.

The Good Doctor

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1986- performance of The Good Doctor by Neil Simon.

The Good Doctor is a series of short plays based on various works by Anton Chekhov.

Arsenic And Old Lace

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.

A Midsummer Night’S Dream

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.

In just one night, four magical stories are cleverly woven together: the marriage of the Athenian duke to the Amazon queen; the battle of the king and queen of the fairies; the follies of four lovers in a forest; and the hilarious antics of amateur actors staging a play. Enter a vibrant world where fairies fly overhead, a donkey bursts into song, and love potion makes your perspective turn on a dime. This production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is an immersive theatrical experience …

The Rivals

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1985 performance of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The Rivals tells the story of young lovers, Lydia Languish and Captain Jack Absolute and the mishaps which happen when Jack’s father tries to arrange a marriage for him and a sequence of gossip and misdelivered letters sets off a clash between Lydia’s suitors.

The Curious Savage

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1983 performance of The Curious Savage by John Patrick.

The Curious Savage is the story of Ethel P. Savage, an elderly lady whose husband has died and left her approximately ten million dollars. When she sets up a memorial fund for average people to pursue their dreams, her three stepchildren commit her to a sanatorium and try to discover where she has hidden the fortune. As the search for the fortune plays out the question becomes who is really crazy, the residents of the sanatorium or Ethel’s stepchildren.

You Can't Take It With You

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1982 performance of You Can’t Take It with You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

You Can’t Take It with You follows the story of the only normal daughter in an eccentric family, and the chaos and mishaps which happen when she brings her fiancé home to meet her family.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1982 performance of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, is a farcical comedy about two men who each take on the personas with the name of Earnest in order to escape the burdens of social obligations.

See How They Run

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1980 performance of See How They Run by Philip King.

See How They Run is set in a vicarage of a fictitious English Village in 1943. It focuses on the wife of the vicar, who is going out to see a play with a friend from the army who dresses in one of her husband’s suits. Nothing goes as planned as additional characters come in and wear the vicar’s suits and no one can tell who the real vicar is.

The Odd Couple

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1979 performance of The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.

The Odd Couple tells the story of friends Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison and the conflicts caused by their mismatched lifestyles when Felix moves in after being kicked out of his home by his wife.

The School For Scandal

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1979 performance of The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The School for Scandal tells the story of a conniving gossiper Lady Sneerwell, and her plot with other unscrupulous persons to separate couples and redirect love interests through slander and gossip.

The Magistrate

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1976 performance of The Magistrate by Arthur Pinero.

The Magistrate is the story of a respectable magistrate who ends up entangled in a series of events that almost result in a public scandal.

The Taming Of The Shrew

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1973 performance of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.

The Taming of the Shrew follows the courtship and marriage of Petruchio and Katherina, a headstrong shrew and how Petruchio "tames" her.

The Skin Of Our Teeth

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1973 performance of The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder.

The Skin of Our Teeth is an allegory about human nature which follows a family and their maid through various disasters at different points of human history.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1972 performance of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, is a farcical comedy about two men who each take on the personas with the name of Earnest in order to escape the burdens of social obligations.

This production was set as a Reader's Theatre due to the limited physical space available.

This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in …

The Imaginary Invalid

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s October 1971 performance of The Imaginary Invalid arranged by Jean Baptiste Moliére.

The Imaginary Invalid is a satirical Comédie-ballet about the 17th century medical profession, following the story of a wealthy Frenchman named Argan who is a hypochondriac.

The Cherry Orchard

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s April 1971 performance of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov.

The play follows an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage.