~AWARD-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT, AUTHOR, DRAMATIST~
DAVID J. SWANSON
SKETCHES
...for the church
Theater for Church, Volume 2
ISBN-978-1530071951
New for 2016, Theater for Church, Vol 2 is a trove of high quality, congregation-tested scripts for both adult and youth drama teams. Some sketches are comedic, others are dramatic, and yet others are worship dramas. Written by award-winning playwright David J. Swanson, these scripts will add life, engagement, and drama to your services or event when paired with a Bible-based message.
Theater for Church, Volume 1
ISBN-978-0615569888
A new compilation of scripts for 2012, Theater for Church is a trove of high quality, congregation-tested scripts for both adult and youth drama teams. These scripts are not preachy nor do they oversimplify life. Some sketches are comedic, others are dramatic, and yet others are worship dramas. These scripts will add life, engagement, and drama to your services or event when paired with a Bible-based message.
SKITGUYS.COM
Featured Author
www.skitguys.com
The Skit Guys have published several sketches as well as his first short play "Down to Earth". David also writes for Skit Guys Studios as part of their writers room.
PLAYS
...for the theatre
A Paper Tiger in the Rain
A play in two acts
Published by Heartland Plays, Inc
Winner of 2014 Panowski Playwriting Award. Worldwide Premiere on September 30, 2014 at Northern Michigan University.
Wichita Community Theater chose A Paper Tiger in the Rain for a staged reading on March 17, 2013.
A Paper Tiger in the Rain is also a semi-finalist for the Playwrights First Award at the National Art Club in New York City.
Synopsis
Newspaperman NATHAN PARKER has just been promoted to his dream job; Editor-in-Chief of the Willow Falls Beacon Telegraph. However, soon after accepting the job, he learns that the newspaper is in financial trouble. MR. WOODSEN, the owner and publisher of the paper, needs Nathan to turn a profit, but DAMON, the outgoing Editor-in-Chief, expects Nathan to run things the way he ran the paper.
Before retiring, Damon hires BEN FLYNN, a young blogger with a lack of reverence for the newspaper industry. Nathan holds Ben in contempt, though reluctantly takes him on to write for the newspaper’s website. Ben joins a staff of EDWARD, KELLY, AVA, CATHY, and JEFF, all critical leaders at the Beacon Telegraph.
As the newspaper’s financial picture becomes cloudier, Nathan is faced with saving his beloved newspaper from extinction and winning the heart of his newly widowed former flame, LAURA. Before it’s over, Ben will help Nathan through a painful lesson about waiting for impossible dreams and depending on false promises.
Hotel Jerusalem
A play in two acts
Hotel Jerusalem was the first runner up in the Woodward International Playwriting prize. It also finished in the top 25 of the Panndora's Box Festival,
Synopsis
It is 1947 in Jerusalem on the eve of a vote at the United Nations that will determine the future of Israel. In the heart of the old city, American war widow FAYE and her teenage daughter ISABEL run a legendary hotel that serves as a neutral oasis to the various factions living in the city. Foreigners in a strange land, Faye and Isabel struggle to understand a country defined by ethnic and religious divisions and British occupation.
When their bartender PETROS brings three ancient scrolls to the hotel, Faye and Isabel suddenly find themselves in the midst of political intrigue. Local British officer CAPT HAWKINS, a friend to FAYE and ISABEL, must press his official duty in locating the missing scrolls. Archaeologist ELEAZER SUKENIK visits the hotel also in search of the scrolls. He confirms that these scrolls are part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, possibly the single greatest archaeological find in the 20th century. High Commissioner CROSS visits shortly thereafter also in search of the scrolls but for his own nefarious purposes.
Rabbi ELIYAHU and his friend YA’AKOV, regular patrons of the hotel, press Faye about her beliefs and her allegiances. They reveal that they are survivors of the Jewish extermination in Europe and share their unique perspective on authoritarianism.
Caught between a man of reason in Sukenik, men of faith in Eliyahu and Ya’akov, a by-the-book solider in Captain Hawkins, and a man of intolerant hatred in High Commissioner Cross, Faye must decide how to protect her family and to do what is right. First, she must understand what she believes. An agnostic living in a land of many religions, Faye puts God to the test and discovers why people of faith come to believe.
Hotel Jerusalem is a single set in two acts with a cast of nine (2f, 7m).
D.A. Horton
Author of G.O.S.P.E.L
"Praise God for blessing David J. Swanson with the ability to be artistic without comprising Biblical truth. I thank David for surrendering his talent back to his savior Jesus Christ. This book is a needed resource for churches not just in our day, but for the days to come."