Plays On Ideas:
Short Royalty-Free Plays from the History of Thought for Performance in Theaters, Classrooms, Living Rooms, or the Privacy of Your Own Brain

Five 10-minute plays in which a fascinating bunch of characters discuss the kinds of ideas that people live and die for. The overall cast includes William Jennings Bryan, Queen Christina, Clarence Darrow, René Descartes, Queen Elizabeth I, Joan of Arc, Sequoyah, and William Shakespeare. Cast sizes range from two to four.

Since plays shouldn't end when the curtain comes down, each episode finishes with a question mark, a dissonant chord—an unresolved something-or-other that invites further thought.

The Plays:
The Maiden and the Nation: Joan of Arc at Orleans
God's Substitute: Elizabeth and Shakespeare after the Essex Rebellion
The Gateway of the Soul: Christina's Last Lesson with Descartes
Talking Leaves: Sequoyah and the Conjurors
In the Belly of the Fish: Bryan and Darrow After the Scopes Trial