James Sherman – författare

1m, 2f / Comedy / Unit Set In Half and Half, James Sherman explores marriages past and present in two related one-act plays. In the first act, set at a breakfast in 1970, the breadwinner husband reads the newspaper and the homemaker wife fries the eggs. In act two, at a breakfast taking place this morning, the career-minded wife reads the paper and the stay-at-home husband cooks the frittata. With his unique comic insight, Sherman looks at how husbands and wives accept and reject their roles, how their roles have changed and, how their roles just might be changing back. The same three actors portray the age appropriate roles in each act, creating an interesting parallel between the two generations, making for a very poignant comedy about marriage.

Comedy Characters: 4 male, 2 female Interior Set Sarah is a nice Jewish girl with a problem: her parents want her married to a nice Jewish boy. They have never met her boyfriend, a WASP executive named Chris Kringle. She tells them she is dating a Jewish doctor and they insist on meeting him. She plans a dinner party and, over the heated protests of Chris, employs an escort service to send her a Jewish date to be Dr. Steinberg. Instead, they send Bob Schroeder, an aspiring actor who agrees to perform the impersonation. Happily, he is extremely convincing in the role and Sarah's parents are enraptured. Soon, even Sarah falls for Bob. "A light, sweet romantic comedy."-Chicago Tribune "Hilarious and quite moving. Sherman wonderfully blends farce with a genuine insight."-Chicago Sun Times "Very funny...The well crafted play has a lot to say about nuclear families of any ethnic persuasion."-Wall Street Journal

Characters: 4 male, 3 female Interior In Relatively Close, James Sheridan scrutinizes human relationships by inviting us to the summer home of one quirky and quarrelsome extended family. But then, what family isn't? Three sisters return to the house on the shores of Lake Michigan where they spent the summers of their youth. Now, the sisters are grown, their parents are gone, and the house is just sitting there. One sister wants to keep it, one sister wants to sell it, and one sister just wants everyone to get along. They each have brought a husband combining three men with very little hope of finding any common ground. And one sister has one very disgruntled teenage son in tow who may be the hope for the future or the downfall of the present. "Warm, witty, and hilariously engaging." - Southtown Star "A comedic doppleganger of August: Osage County." - Daily Herald "Filled with laughs from start to finish!" - TheatreInChicago.com