Other-Novels-Plays

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Other Novels/Plays

The Trials of Adrian Wheeler

The State vs. Max Cooper

The First Coming

(seeking publication)

Ira Neebest, who was raised within the shadows of religious extremism, struggles with Orthodox Judaism, devout Christianity and fanatic Islam, a struggle propelling him along a prophetic journey from America to the jungles of India and back. Along the journey he is awarded the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes for The First Coming, a novel that blasphemes all three religions, resulting in a FATWA and a ten million dollar bounty, placing him within the crosshairs of life threatening danger.

Al Qaeda operatives are able to kidnap Ira from under the watchful eyes of the FBI by executing flawlessly a mindboggling scheme using his wife, Natale, as bait (and eventually causing her to teeter between life and death). With Ira in tow, intending to behead him in public view, his captors crash in the jungles of India in their effort to reach Afghanistan. Only Ira survives, and with the aid of a hidden village of ancient Ethiopian Jews who have waited centuries for the Messiah, he speaks to the Creator of the Cosmos, or quite possibly his hallucinating mind imagines this. Ira is the Messiah, the Creator reveals to him, and he must deliver a message to the world in chaos. He must break the news that the Cosmos operates on the basis of evolution, not divine providence—and if the people are to survive they must stop killing one another in the name of religion and must stop raping the Earth of its resources in the name of greed. Of course, it is not clear whether the Creator of the Cosmos is real or a figment of Ira’s jungle fevered imagination.

Much of Ira’s internal grasp of the world develops early in his journey, indeed as a child raised by his troubled mother, Rebecca, who unsuccessfully attempts to escape her orthodox heritage. Nevertheless, he is able to retain his own moral compass through the love of Natale who as a child is raped by a monk, an act that produces a child she constantly yearns for, a baby girl stolen from her at birth. All of this, the intense persecution of his mother within her own faith, the abominable act committed against his wife, and the violence within fanatical Islam, motivates Ira to write his Great Manifesto, a novel that ushers him into a seemingly inconceivable world of fantasy— or is it?

There is also Ira’s lifelong companion, Soma Nole, a wise but mysterious old woman, an eccentric elder who never seems to age throughout Ira’s life as she travels the world over on a moment’s notice with the ability to speak as many languages as the places she visits.

Cast List/Descriptions

Rudy Oliver - TV Reporter

Jody Greenstreet - Clerk/Bailiff

Francis Hart - Judge

Leslie LaRue - Prosecution Attorney

Dale Lane - Prosecution Attorney

Connie Johnson - Prosecution Attorney

Terry Stone - Defense Attorney

Alex Rhodes - Defense Attorney

Regina Brinwaller - Police Officer at the scene and State Witness

Avery Summers - Resident at the scene and State Witness

Lonnie Jacobsen - One of the “Fearsome Five” and State Witness

Peter Lambert - Shot by Max Cooper and State Witness

Kelly Traveena - Botanical garden docent and. State Witness

Gilbert Grover - Gun shop owner

Val Baker - Gun expert and State Witness

Carrie Brubaker - Max Cooper's neighbor and State Witness

Nolan Hinkle - Friend to Max and Savannah and. State Witness

Loren Winer - Gun Training Expert and Defense Witness

Betty Doolittle - Savannah’s best friend and Defense Witness

Savannah Gregg Cooper - Max’s flirtatious wife and Defense Witness

Max Cooper - The Defendant

Note: A cast member’s age can vary greatly and those

portraying witnesses can double with a simple costume change.

Set/Technical Requirements

The set can be quite simple; a judge’s bench (for example a raised podium and bar stool), a bailiff’s box containing a chair, and a witness box containing a chair. In addition two long tables (one for the State Attorneys and one for the Defense Attorneys) are required. There also should be several chairs set up for the Attorneys and the witnesses.

Synopsis

Peter Lambert moved into a tranquil community and soon began terrorizing the neighbors. Max, an upstanding member of the community, found himself in a feud with Peter that escalated to one fateful night that ended with Max shooting Peter in the shoulder, causing Dean Palan, an innocent bystander, to veer off the road and die. Arrested for the attempted murder of Peter Lambert, and the death of poor Dean Palan, Max contends that he “didn’t know the gun was loaded with real bullets” and that his Wife, Savannah, switched the blanks for the real thing. Savannah was outraged by the accusation even though she had a flirtatious reputation and was rumored to have been “involved” with Peter.

The State argues that rage and revenge were involved in this exciting courtroom drama, laced with humor, in which the audience, as the Jury, must deliver the verdict. Three different endings are provided depending on the jury’s outcome.

UNIQUE, INTERACTIVE AND ENGAGING.

21 Actors, Doubling Possible

Many Gender And Age Neutral Roles.

Comments from Patrons

The State vs Max Cooper Production

Tucson, Arizona

February 24, 25, 26, 2010

(All Performances Sold Out with a long waiting list!)

The production was a real winner in many ways; suspenseful, entertaining, fact filled, well cast, a marvelous blend between "serious" and "comical", right length, engaging for the audience, flexible/ adaptive, doable, fun, easily staged, well supplemented with A/V, relatively quick to produce, did NOT take advantage of the audience in a condescending way, . . .

... the production was unique, well written & directed and an altogether fun experience for both of us. Our friends who saw the show commented that they thought the play was written by a professional playwright and adapted for by Steve. When we reminded them that Steve wrote the play, they were very impressed. Involving the audience as the jury made their experience much more enjoyable as they were a part of the play instead of just on-lookers.

Max Cooper had a superb plot (and script), performed sensationally. Thanks for an outstanding play.

What a fun evening! The courtroom drama was a real hoot; the acting was really good and best of all, everyone seemed to be having a great time.

We have just enjoyed one of the best nights of entertainment that we have ever experienced in SaddleBrooke. The writing was terrific, the plot engaged our attention, the actors entertained us with their portrayals, and the production was superb! Can we count on a sequel?

It was very engaging and very well performed. Thanks to everyone involved for a most entertaining and thought provoking evening.

You should be very proud and pleased with your original script. To have written such a detailed and realistic stage play is commendable. Screen play coming up? To get that many people to memorize and deliver so many lines is amazing. The movement on and off stage showed some really good coaching and directing.

We voted to acquit the defendant but my wife held her ground and so did 3 others at our table who found him guilty, which turned out to be the correct verdict. The rest of us were swayed by the long legs and big red hat of the defendant's wife. We loved that the crime took place in our community!

I loved the courtroom format and thought the production was a good blend of drama and comic relief. It provided several conflicts so that the jury could speculate about multiple scenarios that might have led to the shooting. Participating was especially rewarding as every actor and actress had his/her moment in the spotlight. The audience clearly enjoyed the humor and the jury ballots were testimony to the heated discussions that took place about who did what to whom.

I loved the script. It had humor and drama and it was great to see my friends and neighbors bring it to life. It was a wonderful experience for me to be part of this production and judging by the response of the audience every night, they absolutely loved it, especially their own participation as members of the jury. Thank you Susan and Steve Shear for bringing this new format to SaddleBrooke. I hope we will see more productions like it in the future.

The State vs. Max Cooper

by Steve and Susan Shear

Max is available at ArtAge Publication.

The Click

(seeking publication)

Imagine an overpopulated world in which the All Mighty or Mother Nature, depending on your belief system, conjures up a murderous plague dubbed ERAM, Earth’s Revenge against Mankind, so virulent it takes the full weight of the Cūtocracy to fight back. And it does so by producing the ERAM vaccine and establishing VAMA, the Vaccine Assurance and Management Authority, to insure that all citizens of the world are vaccinated against the ravage decimating their Earth.

While the plague offers temporary relief to the problem of overpopulation, the real cure, the Click, is yet to come—and come it does!

A century passes quickly in the cosmic sense—and the Click is as common as air. People hear it or feel it on or around their 75th birthday and die in their sleep shortly thereafter. It’s clean, it’s quick, and even though cancer, heart attacks, and other life threatening diseases have been eradicated, it stabilizes population growth throughout the world.

It is within that construct that Oliver Hitchcock, a retired CIA agent, has a life-or-death quest—to save his twelve year old grandson, Christopher. Oliver is seventy-eight, older than he has the right to be. He is a Beater, one of the few lucky people who beat the Click, who didn’t hear or feel it when he was supposed to. Christopher is a Preemie, one of the few unlucky youngsters destined to feel the Click early and die prematurely, as did his older brother OJ.

Oliver Hitchcock swore to his wife hours before she closed her eyes forever that he would do his best to save their remaining grandson, but to do so he has to wage the battle of his life against the Cūtocracy (the Coalition United for Theocratic Oversight) and VAMA, its ubiquitous heavily armed enforcer. Not long after making that promise, Hitch begins to suspect the unthinkable—that the Click was not created and implemented by God or Mother Nature as the world had been taking for granted, but was rather manmade and incorporated into the ERAM vaccine by the Cūtocrats.

But how does he prove to the world such an ugly truth knowing the Cūtocracy is on to him … and how will that save his grandson? You’ll have to read The Click when it comes out!

The Click… is what you hear or feel just months before dying peacefully in your sleep. It’s taken for granted like clean air, good food, and spacious surroundings.

An Eye for an Eye

The First Coming

The Steele Deal

The Trials of Adrian Wheeler

Private Adrian Wheeler, accused of murdering Iraqi women and children, arrived home to face nothing less than:

An unrelenting father who cajoled him into enlisting

PTSD

Sexual Inadequacy

A sensational Court-Martial Trial

A sister with HIV

Adrian returned from Baghdad disabled and disillusioned. His brother, John Mike, didn’t return at all. Both participated in a reconnaissance mission seeking proof Saddam had WMDs, a mission that tragically failed, a mission in which innocent women and children died along with John Mike and other combatants. As the sole survivor (or so he thought), Adrian carried the details of that trauma deep within his subconscious, and often drank himself unconscious in hopes of hiding from the visitors who came in his sleep; his domineering father, a retired Vietnam veteran, and Rachael, the girl he left behind. In his mental state and physical condition, he did everything he could to avoid her—and the couch they first made love on before he lost his arm.

Just when he began taking control of his life, Adrian was charged with the murder of all those women and children. But did he do it? Could it have been John Mike? Or possibly an insurgent? Adrian’s only hope was to get beyond his trauma and recall the terrible secret buried deep within the cellar of his psyche. That required Rabinowitz (a psychotherapist specializing in PTSD) and Angelo Benedetti (a renowned court-martial defense lawyer) to help him remember—and to convince the court he was innocent.

Throughout much of his young life, Adrian looked after John Mike—a promise he made to Ma on her deathbed even though Adrian was only twelve years old at the time. Years later, that promise compelled him to protect his brother’s good name, consciously and subconsciously, throughout most of the trial. But his devotion to Daisy, his sister, and her fight with HIV finally drove Adrian to face up to Pa and break his promise to Ma.

Steve’s most recent Novel (seeking publication) and Screenplay

An Eye for an Eye

A Synopsis

Beautiful Rebecca, caught between Leonard, the man she loves, and the religious roots of her family’s orthodoxy is driven to a pharmaceutical overdose … and death by the family’s revengeful rabbi while Leonard, an atheist, is driven away by her deep-seated guilt. And the Rabbi who claims to have the ear of God is the mastermind manipulator behind her guilt in this explosive triangle overrun with sexual indiscretions, secrets, and retribution.

Rebecca runs to America from Jerusalem, from an arranged marriage—her father’s unsuccessful insistence she marry the Rabbi’s son after the Rabbi himself proposed the union. Months later she returns to Jerusalem with Leonard and his child in her belly only to be thrown from her father’s house. During that visit the Rabbi insists on seeing Rebecca, alone, and warns her of the All Mighty’s wrath—An Eye for an Eye.

Years later a freak explosion at the gas pump takes the lives of her family. According to the Rabbi, God initiated the tragedy, insisting her sacrilege caused Him to act. From God’s tongue to his ears, that’s how he knows … or so he claims—An Eye for an Eye.

Just as Rebecca edges beyond her guilt towards some degree of normalcy, the Rabbi enters her life again demanding she remain loyal to her faith, and to God—or else. It is that final meeting that drives her to her pills, whether by accident or by design, driving Leonard to avenge her death—An Eye for an Eye.

Emotional needs as destructive as the Rabbi’s narcissistic agenda of rage and revenge, and those as common as Rebecca’s God-fearing guilt and her desire to live her own life, fuel this mysterious journey of a young Juliet whose only crime is desiring freedom to choose her own Romeo.

The Case of the Steele Deal

by Steve and Susan Shear

This is available at ArtAge Publication.

Clara and Sally’s BIG FIGHT

Clara and Sally Steele, identical twins living her in SaddleBrooke, were addicted to the lottery—and ALWAYS shared their winnings. THAT IS until Sally ran over and killed Adam and Eve, the parent dogs of Cain and Able, as she backed out of Clara’s driveway and afterwards showed little empathy. While Clara and Sally had often fought and just as often made up, running over Adam and Eve without remorse was the last straw for Clara. She demanded that Sally leave her house and never return. Clara made it clear she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with her twin sister—ever again.

Clara’s BIG WIN

On June 3, 2009 Clara Steele purchased a winning lottery ticket worth six million dollars, her BIG WIN. She REFUSED to share it with Sally even though they had a written agreement to share their winnings. On July 4, 2010 Clara passed away, having tripped over her dogs, Cain and Abel, causing her to fall down the entry stairs. She died a multi-millionaire and Sally sued her estate. CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR OWN SISTER SUING YOU!

You The Jury

Here is your opportunity to be a jurist and decide the fate of Clara’s BIG WIN without having to spend the day without having to spend days in a hot and stuffy courtroom.