Acie Cargill

This is a one-act play based on the words of Martin Luther King. He spent all his adult life working towards racial equality, mostly in the South of the United States, but he was also active in some Northern states, like Illinois. He even was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Segregation and discrimination have not disappeared. They still exist, but not as severely and as openly as they were before Dr. King inspired Americans to open their minds and their hearts. His legacy is non-violence. Peaceful protests against racism. Demanding equality before the law. Equal opportunity for children coming up. The right to vote without fear for everyone. Most of all we remember the beauty of his expressions and the power in his presentations. He was the top orator of the 20th century.

500 years ago. A young Catholic monk nailed his 95 Theses to a door at Wittenburg University in Germany. They were his complaints about the way the church was being administered, mostly against Vatican priests and the Pope himself. Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V were the two of the most powerful men in the world and wanted Luther to recant his writings at a gathering of German princes called the Diet of Worms. This play is basically about Luther's trial at Worms, events preceeding Worms and the results of the hearing. Luther's defiance of the Catholic Church led to a period called the Reformation with the great division of the Christian world into Catholics and Protestants.

Other than the Bible, Karl Marx's writings are the best sellers in the world today. Most everyone has heard his name and most have an opinion about him, but most people don't have any idea of what he said and wrote. He is one of the most hated individuals in history and also one of the most loved. This play attempts to explain who Karl Marx was and simplify some of his complex theories. He is credited with expounding the system of communism as an answer to the huge disparity in income in the world. He recommended revolution as the means for the working class to overthrow the wealthy capitalists and create a society without classes where everyone is equal in rights and opportunities to share in the world's bounty of wealth produced by the workers.

Here is a slightly different take on the classic horror story by Mary Shelley. Instead of tracking down his creation to kill him, Dr. Frankenstein decides to do a brain surgery to cure the "monster" of his homicidal tendencies.

The movie industry developed in the 20th century, starting with silent black and white films and becoming color, cinemascope, and surround sound. What a difference Animation started as a small offshoot of the main film industry and was relegated to making short cartoons shown before the feature attraction. Walt Disney Studios began that way with short entertaining cartoons drawn by artists Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and evolved into a huge production studio with state of the art facilities and many employees, mostly artists who drew the animations. This play describes the development of animation from Walt's early days experimenting in his garage up until his death in 1966.

It is not easy for a young black guy to work his way out of an impoverished background. No connections, no capital, maybe no salable skills. He has to make it with confidence and some luck.Here is the story of LaQuan Harris, an honest hard-working guy with a lot of ambition. He achieves a dream job for a kid, a major league bat boy. And for the Chicago Cubs in their championship season, no less.A long season filled with excitement and drama. It is hard to condense it into a short play, but here it is. A season Chicago will never forget.

This play is based on an actual sadhu that I had met and talked with many times. His Indian name was Shunyatti, but he preferred being called Mr. Nobody.He was an extremely gentle person and seemed to prefer being in a meditative state, but he was willing to talk with me and I did make actual recordings of some of his wisdom.His words were usually his own, but much of what he thought about and said had been passed down to him through sadhu traditions. Sadhus are considered holy men in India and their wisdom is highly respected.This play begins when Peter Berg from the Ginsburg Foundation in San Francisco seeks out Mr. Nobody because he had heard of the English-speaking sadhu. Peter reports back to San Francisco and they decide to bring Mr. Nobody to America for speaking engagements and interviews. The chain of events has a tragic ending which actually happened.