"Director Dennis Schebetta takes this serio-comic look at the restrictions of class structure and plays it for pure farce...The comedy overflows with delicious puns and spot-on hilarity."
Dog in the Manger, 2014
"My Date with Adam is, at its heart, an homage to '80s rom-coms, full of romantic gestures...All the elements are in the right places in this film. It’s truly just good fun."
My Date with Adam, 2013, read the review here.
“Playwright Dennis Schebetta explores here the age-old frustration of every artist who searches for a “voice” to inspire them. This piece...is gorgeous,
Read the full review for Burning Botticelli, fringeNYC, 2004
CURRENT PROJECTS
Soldier Song, Writer/Director
Soldier Song uses text, movement, gesture and music to examine the veteran and civilian relationship, particularly as veterans transition from deployment into civilian life. This ensemble-based performance had a developmental workshop in 2016 in Pittsburgh (with additional music by renowned composer Roger Zahab) and was developed further at the HBMG Foundation Winter Retreat in Creede, CO in winter, 2017.
More information about the script available on new play exchange.
More information about the script available on new play exchange.
Emergence (or the Second Goodbye): A Monologue, published by Prompt Journal
A monologue written by Dennis inspired by the set design model by Tom Burch. A young daughter of immigrants and first generation college students says goodbye to her childhood home. Audio performance by Nkeki Obi-Melekwe with direction by Chris Campbell and sound design by Mac Miller
Click here to read and hear the monologue performed!
Click here to read and hear the monologue performed!
PAST PROJECTS
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Saratoga Shakespeare Company, 2023, Sir Toby
Dennis Schebetta as Sir Toby Belch, Noah Tuleja as Malvolio and Ryan Palmer as Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Directed by Helena Binder
Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, Director, Skidmore College, 2022
Much Ado About Nothing, Actor (Don Pedro), Saratoga Shakespeare Company, 2022
Heddatron by Elizabeth Meriwether, Director, Skidmore College
Dennis directed the play Heddatron by Elizabeth Meriwether at Skidmore College in Spring of 2022! Its a play with actual robots! And actors, too, of course. And some singing. But mostly, robots!
A description from the Playscripts site: A pregnant housewife is abducted by robots and taken to the rainforest and forced to perform Hedda Gabler by her robot captors. Meanwhile, her family is back home in Michigan trying to find her, and Henrik Ibsen is in Norway attempting to write Hedda Gabler, as Strindberg taunts him. A hilarious and savage journey to freedom.
For more information about Skidmore College Theater Department and for tickets, please check out their website.
A description from the Playscripts site: A pregnant housewife is abducted by robots and taken to the rainforest and forced to perform Hedda Gabler by her robot captors. Meanwhile, her family is back home in Michigan trying to find her, and Henrik Ibsen is in Norway attempting to write Hedda Gabler, as Strindberg taunts him. A hilarious and savage journey to freedom.
For more information about Skidmore College Theater Department and for tickets, please check out their website.
Romeo & Juliet, Director, Siena College
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, was schedule to be performed in March to April, 2020 but due to the pandemic was postponed and then transformed into a multi-media hybrid theater/video. Watch the final project on Youtube here!
In this wild west adaptation of Shakespeare's beloved tragedy, two star-crossed lovers from warring families of a booming mining town in the desert find love amidst the violence of street brawls and vulgarity of miners and cowboys.
In this wild west adaptation of Shakespeare's beloved tragedy, two star-crossed lovers from warring families of a booming mining town in the desert find love amidst the violence of street brawls and vulgarity of miners and cowboys.
American Soldiers by Matt Morillo, Director
Albany Civic Theater, Albany, NY 2020
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An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, Actor
Northeast Theatre Ensemble, immersive theater at the Ten Broek Mansion, Albany, NY, 2019, directed by Krysta Dennis
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Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison, Actor
Theatre Voices,, Albany, NY 2018, directed by Krysta Dennis
Before the 4th, Short film, Actor
Pittsburgh, PA, 2017
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Nine, Director
University of Pittsburgh Stages, 2016
Dog in the Manger, Director
University of Pittsburgh Stages, 2015
My Date with Adam, Short Film, Writer/Director
Premiered at the Three Rivers Film Festival, 2013 and winner Best Comedy Short in 2014 for the High Desert International Film Festival.
A wedding planner uses internet dating to find Mr. Right but when she has a date with the perfect man, does he turn out to be too perfect, almost machine-like?
A wedding planner uses internet dating to find Mr. Right but when she has a date with the perfect man, does he turn out to be too perfect, almost machine-like?
Agamemnon, Director
University of Pittsburgh Stages, 2014
University of Pittsburgh Stages, 2014
Camino, Actor
The Hiawatha Project, World Premiere, 2011, Directed by Anya Martin
7 Minutes to Midnight, Director
Are you ready for that great atomic power? On July 16, 1945, the Trinity test in New Mexico awakens the Greek God Kronos (otherwise known as Saturn). After killing his father and devouring his own children, he was banished to the underworld by his son Zeus and is just waiting for the end of the world which will set him free. The dawning of the atomic age means the time draws nigh. Using text, movement and music, this ensemble-based play weaves together several stories from 1945 to now, showing Oppenheimer and other members of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists as they try to warn the military and others about the impending cold war and the arms race. It examines the "nuclear" family of the 1950s, the fear of the 1980s, and how millions grew up under the shadow of a mushroom cloud. The clock is ticking for us all. (70 Minutes, 4 Male, 4 Female or more)
Produced and developed with the student ensemble at Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA, October, 2008. Kennedy Center Mark Cohen Award Regional Selection, 2009.
(Read the script)
Produced and developed with the student ensemble at Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA, October, 2008. Kennedy Center Mark Cohen Award Regional Selection, 2009.
(Read the script)
FILMS / SCREENPLAYS
Love & Robots
Romantic Comedy, Feature Screenplay.
A roboticist invents an android to be the perfect man to use as an avatar to woo the woman he has been secretly in love with for years. But when his mentor hijacks the project for a military experiment, he must decide which is more important—his love or his rising career. When the woman discovers that her perfect man is an android, he may have ruined his one chance at winning the love of his life. Now he must win her back even if it costs him his future.
Official Selection Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, 2014; Quarterfinalist Richmond Film Festival, 2015
Romantic Comedy, Feature Screenplay.
A roboticist invents an android to be the perfect man to use as an avatar to woo the woman he has been secretly in love with for years. But when his mentor hijacks the project for a military experiment, he must decide which is more important—his love or his rising career. When the woman discovers that her perfect man is an android, he may have ruined his one chance at winning the love of his life. Now he must win her back even if it costs him his future.
Official Selection Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, 2014; Quarterfinalist Richmond Film Festival, 2015
Published Plays
Hipsters in Love and Half Full in BUS Anthology, 2016
Bricolage Production Company produces an annual 24 hour bus play every year and have released an anthology of the past 10 years. Included in this book is the comedic Hipsters in Love and the existential bus waiters in Half Full, both by Dennis Schebetta.
Book Design by Tyler Crumrine
Cover Design by David Pohl
Foreword by Christopher Rawson
Bricolage Production Company produces an annual 24 hour bus play every year and have released an anthology of the past 10 years. Included in this book is the comedic Hipsters in Love and the existential bus waiters in Half Full, both by Dennis Schebetta.
Book Design by Tyler Crumrine
Cover Design by David Pohl
Foreword by Christopher Rawson
Dog Park or Sexual Perversity in Magnuson
A play written in the style of David Mamet for the Mamet Schmamet Festival. In Magnuson dog park, Jake the pug teams up with the older, wiser Duke, a great dane, to help Tiger, a young retriever, mate with Bambi, the poodle. Riffing on Mamet’s dialogue, style and his famous plays American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity in Chicago, see how dogs relate when humans aren’t watching.
Published in Ten 10-Minute Plays Volume III, 2010; Originally produced by Theatre Schmeater, Seattle (2007).
Read the script online here.
Published in Ten 10-Minute Plays Volume III, 2010; Originally produced by Theatre Schmeater, Seattle (2007).
Read the script online here.
Distance
A play that interweaves the lives of five twenty-something's in NYC. Our narrator, Hugo, is an eccentric amateur astronomer who unfolds the tale of Scott, a budding writer, and his star-crossed relationship with Kate, a rising career-woman. They split up, but try to remain friends and roommates, each learning how to let go and move on. The play takes an off-beat and comic look at love, friendship, and physics.
Published by Original Works Publishing. Read a script sample here.
Published by Original Works Publishing. Read a script sample here.
Green Eyed Monster
A wife confronts a deep, dark secret about her husband’s sexual fantasy with an unusual object of affection: Ms. Piggy. This is the play where the infamous “Miss Piggy” audition monologue originated.
Semi-Finalist Turnip Theater’s 11th Annual 15-Minute Play Festival, NYC, 2005; Produced by Brass Tacks Theater Company, NY (2001), Brüka Theater, NV (2004).
To get the "Miss Piggy" monologue and other fabulous audition pieces, check out the Monologues from the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, published in 2013.
Semi-Finalist Turnip Theater’s 11th Annual 15-Minute Play Festival, NYC, 2005; Produced by Brass Tacks Theater Company, NY (2001), Brüka Theater, NV (2004).
To get the "Miss Piggy" monologue and other fabulous audition pieces, check out the Monologues from the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, published in 2013.