REVISED STANDARDS
a pair of one-acts by Lee Shackleford
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REVISED STANDARDS is a pair of one-act plays for a church with a sense of humor. The plays may be performed individually but are better together for a full-length, light-hearted but thought-provoking, exploration of two well-known stories from the Old Testament.
WRESTLES-WITH-GOD
A pathetically inept amateur theatre group attempts to stage the Genesis story of how Jacob became Israel, gaining four wives and umpteen children along the way. Disaster follows disaster and the performance is on the verge of total collapse when the cast and narrator realize they're actually doing the story more justice than they realized.
Read a scene from WRESTLES-WITH-GOD
Requires a large cast capable of making things appear to go wrong -- but to do so on cue and with a straight face. Also requires armloads of baby dolls and about fifty feet of fire hose. (No, really, it does.)
DANIEL, P.I.
The apocryphal Book of Daniel contains the world's oldest detective story: the Mystery of the Idol of Bel. In this stage version, a film-noir Daniel cracks that case while making time to save the fair Susanna from lecherous local officials and facing a dark warehouse full of hungry lions. Along the way, the tough-as-nails Daniel is gently guided by his efficient and adoring secretary, Angel.
Read a scene from DANIEL, P.I.
Requires a large cast who gets to dress up like they're in a black-and-white film from the early 1940s, talk tough, and carry guns.