Richard T. Young

Richard T. Young became interested in theatre when he joined his high school’s drama club in order to get the attention of a girl. He never dated that girl, and nor did he managed to extricate himself from theatre. He earned his BA from California State University (Hayward,) his MA from California State University (Fresno), and his MFA from Lindenwood University in St. Louis. He is on the performing arts faculty at Blackburn College where he as taught since 1990. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Summer Repertory Theater at Blackburn College. He has directed forty plus shows in a variety of amateur and professional settings.

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Jonah and Bigfish

Anytime Youth by Richard T. Young

40 pages

22 flexible characters, 12 with doubling.

This is a somewhat zany retelling of the traditional story of Jonah. Although enhanced with some extra characters and scenes, the theme and overall message hold true to the Old Testament Scriptures. Included in the story is Herald, the angel who acts as God’s voice and has the ability to turn up at unusual places and in unusual ways. In the opening scene a handful of fun-loving woodland creatures discover Jonah asleep, and bring in the right blend of seriousness when they realize he must be the prophet. Along the way Jonah interacts with some sailors who even...

Ducks at 35,000 and Other Plays

Drama by Richard T. Young

67 pages

2 m, 2 w or 8 m, 8 w

All four of the these plays involve a woman and man who are strangers to each other until happenstance causes them to meet in a confined space. Through self-disclosure their lives touch and perhaps change. Each play uses the stage “gimmick” of being able to hear the characters’ thoughts as well as their spoken words. Although the themes are on the serious side there is much humor. In "Ducks At Thirty-Five Thousand," a young man who is planning a suicide and a young woman who is planning an abortion meet on an airliner. As he finally reveals his plan, her reac...