PTMC PLAYWRITING
Playwright, Adapter, Actor, Director, Innovator
Welcome to my website. As a professional Playwright, I aim to create a better understanding of the world as I see it and our place in it — a mission which has cast me in many different roles: actor, director, teacher, collaborator, designer, and creative innovator. Sample my plays from the smorgasbord of offerings and enter into a world of imagination.
ABOUT ME
My Stance
As an actor, director, teacher, playwright, I’ve always been passionate about theater and perceptibly moved by the influence it has on an audience. I immerse myself in the projects I work on, diving headfirst into the research, investigation, and production of plays I feel are worth writing. I am a curious and proactive playwright, interested in preserving the foundations set by classical literature in particular Shakespeare, by adapting his work with modern themes, language and situations.
BOSTON APOLLO
Spring 2023
John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925), the most successful portrait painter of his era, lays bare his thorny relationships with models Thomas McKeller, Wilhelm Kamp & patroness Mrs. Isabella Stewart Gardner while desperately seeking non-portraiture as his legacy.
McKeller became Sargent’s most "useful" life drawing model, standing in for men, women, the politically powerful, all forms of gods, goddesses and white people. The "colossal" painting of a totally uncovered Thomas McKeller, was only displayed "discretely & infrequently" to Sargent's closest friends, never publicly during Sargent’s lifetime.
Combining spoken text, life drawing, immersive imagery, and historical fact & fiction, BOSTON APOLLO invites you to Sargent’s Pope Building Studio in Boston, 1921, to meet the artist, his patroness and two of his most “useful” models. BOSTON APOLLO might even answer why “Thomas McKeller” disappeared for nearly one hundred years….
PANDER...ING
What if Will Shakespeare had "maker's remorse" and decided to call in
TROILUS & CRESSIDA's Pandarus, and HENRY 6th's Joan la Pucelle for makeovers?
Achilles, Patroclus, Mistress Overdone, Queen Elizabeth, Mrs. Aphra Behn, Edward de Vere & even
Anne Hathaway join the fray. And what's that underlying thrum regarding authorship?
PANDER...ing Vimeo & PINTEREST & NPX
https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/pandering/
https://newplayexchange.org/plays/1052730/pandering
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/504533859
SHREWD!
SHREWD!
Shaming of the Shrewd © 2020 by Patrick Thomas McCarthy ptmc
Cast 4 Women 7 Men
Kate – oldest daughter to Baptista, match to Petruchio
Petruchio – fortune hunter, match to Kate
Bianca – youngest daughter to Baptista, match to Lucentio
Baptista – father to Kate & Bianca, match to Matcha
Hortensio – son to Bumsquat, Vincentio’s mate
Vincentio – merchant class orphan, Hortensio’s mate
Lucentio – son to Matcha, Bianca’s mate
Biondello – servant to Petruchio, Servantina’s mate
Bumsquat – father to Hortensio, the cheese stands alone
Matchata – mother to Lucentio, match to Baptista
Servantina – servant to Baptista family, mate to Biondello
SYNOPSIS Kate Baptista runs her father’s household with a firm hand since her mother’s death. When matchmakers and fortune seekers pursue her sister Bianca for her dowry, Kate puts forth the oldest daughter must be first married dictum. She then interviews potential suitors for her own hand and Bianca’s, suffering no fools in the bargain. Choosing Petruchio as the most apt, least offensive choice after careful analysis, she proceeds to make him into an appropriate match. She is ashamed that most men “are so simple”. In Kate’s wisdom, all end up with a mate except for Bumsquat, the instigator, whose cheese stands alone.
COMING SOON FROM.... ptmcplaywriting.com
REEKING OF INDISCRETION:
MADAME X'S ALLERTON
(C) 2019 by PTMC
The Chicago Tribune’s Madame X, society doyenne Caroline Kirkland (1865-1930) declared Robert Allerton (1873 – 1964) Chicago’s most eligible bachelor in 1906. His personal relationship with Caroline Kirkland, both in high society and everyday life, and his intimate relationship with John Wyatt Gregg Allerton (1899-1986), his longtime companion, adopted-as-an- adult son, are best imagined by inventing what their correspondence might have been. Over the course of two centuries, what words might have passed between these three brightly shining stars that shaped the course of art, landscape architecture, the future of celebrity journalism and LGBTQ issues that were only imagined in the early 20th century. An epistolary intrigue of historical truth and fiction for two men and one woman.
MX'sA had its first flirtation with the public on Wednesday November 28, 2018 at the Vermont Studio Center's RedMill DiningRoom presentation series with a reading of excerpts from its opening letters and feature stories. Mary Clark played Madame X/Caroline Kirkland and ptmc played Robert Allerton. Another reading at VSC, of opera box scene & closing took place on Dec. 21. Complete readings of finished script took place at Waukesha Civic Theatre [WIS] with Sharon Sohner as Madame X, Tom Briggs as John Gregg, and ptmc as Robert Allerton on Dec. 26, and Dec 30 at EastPoint Commons, Milwaukee with Donna Lobacz as Madame X, Don Lobacz as John Gregg & ptmc as Robert Allerton, and Mae Haskins, Steppenwolf, as adjudicator. Development readings in March & September 2019 featured Terry Caza as Robert Allerton; Mary O'Brady as Caroline Kirkland / Madame X; & Drew Bolander as John Gregg.
Fringe NYC BYOV saw Madame X come to the CHAIN THEATRE Studio space, NYC, from Oct 7-21, 2019 for 10 performances with Rik Walter as Robert Allerton; Anna Cody as Caroline Kirkland / Madame X; & Jordan Tierney as John Gregg.
REEKING of INDISCRETION: Madame X's Allerton features the future "partnership" of John Gregg, drafted at 18, returning from World War I to enroll as a student of architecture at the University of Illinois. The orphan John G. is paired with the childless Robert at a fraternity Father-Son luncheon in 1922, and a lifetime relationship begins. Madame X who claimed to be "reeking with indiscretion" for her column in the Chicago Tribune, becomes part of a "triangulate" with what she does or does not write about Robert Allerton's life and his relationship with John G.
* REEKING of INDISCRETION: Madame X's Allerton is a direct result of a Vermont Studio Center Writing Residency and Fellowship
Companion piece to VARIED LIVES
MIDNIGHT'S DREAM
A Fanciful/Farcical Adaptation of
Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(C) 2018
from
ptmcplaywriting.com
with 12 Merry Miscreants
7 Men & 5 Women
Congressman Theseus O'Baron
Polly Blackbottom AKA Titania Whipmaster
Colonel Edgeus Edge
Mr. Phineas Puck
Demetri Demigoggins
Sandy Lysander Lackluster
Hermia Edge / The Edger
Helena Jane Hathaway
Mz. Bette Bottom / Pyramus
Quin Quince / Wall/Dog/Moonshine
Frankie Flute / Thisby
Ms Snug Robin Starveling / Lion
***Midnight's Dream is a direct result of a Vermont Studio Center Residency & Fellowship
COME PLAY WITH US
Expand Your Theatrical Horizons
TEMPEST
TEMPEST © 2018 by Patrick Thomas McCarthy pTmC;
Characters 4 men 2 women; Pero – father to three children, survivalist, magician [50s/60s]; Miranda – daughter to Pero [20s/30s]; Cal – son to Pero [20s/30s]; Ariel – daughter to Pero [20s]; Nando – handsome stranger in a strange land [20s/30s]; Stefano – sidekick [20s /30s]
SETTING: A survivalist enclave
SYNOPSIS: Suggested by Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, this TEMPEST finds itself in a post-apocalyptic decaying world, where survivalist father, Pero, captures two Atrian strangers he will groom to give as gifts to two of his three children, his pups, Miranda, Ariel & Cal. Will the Atrians civilize his children or compound their savagery? “Oh, brave new world” that has the other in’t.
Touching on themes of parenting, maternal death in childbirth, a shrinking pool of human existence, slavery, LGBTQ issues, the wizardry of love, and survival itself, TEMPEST centers on free will as central to the very idea of human existence. Will any or all our characters discover that, brave new world, that has the other in’t….
* TEMPEST is a direct result of a Vermont Studio Center Writing Residency and Fellowship
MIDNIGHT'S DREAM
https://newplayexchange.org/plays/195580/midnights-dream
(C) 2018 by ptmc
What if Ray Cooney, Georges Feydeau and Shakespeare had a baby?
A fanciful/farcical Adaptation of Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
7 Men 5 Women
Congressman Theseus O'Baron
Congresswoman Hippolyta Blackbottom / A.K.A. Titania Whipmaster
Colonel Edgeus Edge
Mr. Phineas Puck - The Congressman's Chief of Staff
Demitri Demigoggins - a Russian operative with Book of Face Specialization
Sandy Lysander Lackluster - Congressional Staff Member
Hermia Edge / The Edger - Colonel Edge's daughter
Helena Jane Hathaway - the Congressman's Secretary
Mz. Bette Bottom - Congressional Staffer / Pyramus
Quin Quince - Congressional Staffer / Wall
Frankie Flute - Congressional Staffer / Thisbe
Ms. Snug Robin Starveling -Congressional Staffer / Lion
*Midnight's Dream is a direct result of a Vermont Studio Center Writing Residency and Fellowship
SLIPPERY: A WINTRY TALE
Spun from Shakespeare's WINTERS TALE, a queer post modern take on jealousy, homophobia, betrayal, redemption & reconciliation. You're invited to Monty's 16th birthday barbecue Make sure you bring your appetite for down home family dysfunction Act One 1996 Act Two 2012 Southern Middle America - A Red State Frame of Mind 3 Women: Hermione, Paully, Perdy; 7 Men: Lee, Beau, Cam, Monty, Monty/Max, Austin, Strap/Hope (C) 2017 by ptmc
https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/slippery-a-wintry-tale/
TEMPEST
(C) 2018 by ptmc
PERO: (Reading from The Tempest)
I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.
MIRANDA: I’ll walk with you to sooth your beating mind.
PERO: As your prisoner?
MIRANDA: As your friendly captor.
PERO: Ever so friendly, the queen of if.
MIRANDA: If you will my lord.
PERO: I will my lady, if you will. Lead on.
MIRANDA: Into our brave new world.
[They walk arm in arm toward the audience as the lights fade]
"O Brave New World" that has the other in't... TEMPEST by ptmc
https://newplayexchange.org/plays/169334/tempest
"What fools these mortals be"
William Shakespeare ... A Midsummers Night's Dream
GET IN TOUCH
One of the greatest perks of my job is getting feedback and interacting with my audience. Contact me if you’ve got any comments or questions for me, I’d love to hear from you.