Brian Shoop
Brian Shoop was born near the shores of Lake Erie in the early ‘50s. In his youth, he never swam in the lake because of industrial pollution, and he never acted on stage because athletes considered such things silly. Since those days, a lot has changed. Lake Erie is a resort-lined vacation destination, and Brian is a full-time actor who also enjoys writing drama. As an actor, he has appeared in several movies, some with big stars, and many television commercials, both regional and national. As a writer, he has written many one-act dramas for his church over the years, and has also written a few screenplays, one of which he produced himself that remains in distribution. "Good Will Two Men" is his first attempt at a comedy on stage, as well as his first full-length play.
Christmas Trappings
Adult Christmas by Brian Shoop
35 pages
2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible, 1 child, extra voices
Rev. Cordell opens the play as he recalls a Christmas some 20 years earlier when he was trapped with a handful of other strangers by a blizzard in a small Oklahoma diner. He wasn't a pastor then, but a young man full of questions. Seamlessly, we join the group: the owner of the diner who is set in her ways, a middle-aged man with a secret past, an edgy newspaper reporter from out of town, and a young mother completely on her own with a small child who does not speak. No one in the lonesome diner is quite sure of the real meaning of life or where theirs should...
Civil War Christmas
Adult Christmas by Brian Shoop
32 pages
3 m, 1 w.
Three wounded Confederate soldiers are confined to a makeshift field hospital and cared for by Liddy, a black woman. As the men's differing personalities begin to clash, they gradually uncover a dark, common past which has shaped their present, and threatens to destroy their future. They become embroiled in their own personal "civil war," and each struggles with his own form of slavery. Liddy, assumed to be a slave, offers the only key to freedom for them all: the self-denial and humility of the first Christmas. This uniquely American drama is beautiful and p...
Good Will Two Men
Adult Christmas by Brian Shoop
48 pages
3 m, 2 w, 4 boys, 2 girls, 4 boys or girls, extras possible.
Lifelong friends Will and Glenn have a long history of producing the Christmas pageant together at their church. Following the hiring of a young pastor with new ideas (including a Santa-themed Christmas pageant), Will and Glenn found themselves on opposite sides of the debate, and the rift has cut off all communication between them for two years running. Now Will no longer attends church and calls his friend a backstabber. Glenn’s daughter Roberta is determined to bring the two lost friends back to each other. She takes on directing the children's Christmas p...