A Chicago Success Story
 
 

 
 

By the grace of "Broadway Play Publishing Inc." in New York, many of the Illegitimate Player's catalogues are again available for production. In particular are the bulk of the literary parodies written and produced throughout the nineties.
 

CLICK HERE FOR A TASTE OF PAST REVIEWS


THE GLASS MENDACITY

Copyright: The Illegitimate Players
Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing, NY
Writers:  Maureen Morley and Tom Willmorth, Story development: The Illegitimate Players
Premiere: Victory Gardens - 1989 by The Illegitimate Players / Banshee Productions

 "By combining Williams' three most celebrated dramas, the authors have come up with plenty of powerhouse material for their irreverent magnolia operetta."
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune

   "In the twisted world of THE GLASS MENDACITY, the ensemble's inspired send-up of the characters and crises of Tennessee Williams, the Players deconstruct a funhouse pantheon that riotously hurls together the author's most outrageous oddballs. Loads and loads of laughs result."
Lawrence Bommer, Windy City Times

   "...the Illegitimate's GLASS MENDACITY will delight any Williams buff with its nonstop barrage of informed in-jokes."
Albert Williams, Reader


Big Daddy DuBois (Keith Cooper) and Maggie the Cat (Maureen Morley)
 


OF GRAPES AND NUTS

Copyright: The Illegitimate Players
Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing, NY
Writers:  Doug Armstrong, Keith Cooper, Tom Willmorth
Premiere: Victory Gardens - 1991 by The Illegitimate Players / Banshee Productions

"'It ain't the heat, it's the humility.' That opening line strangely summarizes the heartbreak of GRAPES OF WRATH and sets the tone for this clever show. Irreverent on its surface, hilariously accurate in its mimicry, OF GRAPES AND NUTS is a tribute par excellence to Steinbeck...."
Susan Pellowe, Plays International

"The Players have scaled comic heights before. Their GLASS MENDACITY was the most devastating send-up of Tennessee Williams since his last four plays, and ALL MY SPITE reduced Arthur Miller to an hour-long gut buster. But with OF GRAPES AND NUTS, a surefire satire on Steinbeck, they've struck the mother lode of comedy."
Lawrence Bommer, Reader

Ma Joad (Maureen Morley), Lenny (Keith Cooper), Tom Joad (Tom Willmorth) and Preacher Casey (Doug Armstrong)


A CHRISTMAS TWIST

Copyright: The Illegitimate Players
Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing, NY
Writers:  Keith Cooper, Maureen Morley and Doug Armstrong
Premiere: Victory Gardens - 1992 by The Illegitimate Players / Banshee Productions

 "A CHRISTMAS TWIST is a very funny satire of Dickensian excesses about Christmas and poor people and the rich people who don't care about them.... A CHRISTMAS TWIST is bursting with cruel humor that makes a desperately needed mockery of Christmas sentimentality. It's perfect theatre for the holiday season."
Wayne Scott, Windy City Times

   "This script by actor-playwrights Doug Armstrong, Keith Cooper, Maureen Morley and Tom Willmorth jams plot elements from several sources into one hilariously unlikely story.... All in all, this is a welcome orgy of irreverence for anyone who finds Christmas a grueling experience."
Albert Williams, Reader

   "The Illegitimate Players are universally adept at creating rich, deep comic characterizations, combining the energy and spontaneous humor of improv with the intellectually pleasing thoughtfulness of well-crafted satire."
Brian J Hieggelke, New City

Tiny Twist (Paul Stroili), Fagin (Tom Willmorth) and Little Artful Annie (Maureen Morley)
 

 

Other full length productions from The Illegitimate Players include:

  • All My Spite
  • Pandora Skulnk Won't Come Out of the House
  • Mystery Date
  • Cheese Louise
  • The Day the Arts Stood Still


Broadway Play Publishing Inc
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212 772-8334
fax  212 772-8358

Copyright 2009 - Keith Cooper / Cooperweb