JAC Publishing & Promotions Description Page

JAC Publishing & Promotions

Simbiotic by Patrick M. Brennan

#2005-0034

ISBN #1-933159-38-3

If this one-act interests you, consider Patrick M. Brennan's short dog_eat_dog.com!

Cast Requirements:

All seven characters may be either male or female.

	PRESIDENT: A middle-aged successful politician, he or she looks like the CEO of a very rich corporation.
	MINISTER: The President's toady.
	1ST GENERAL: A successful entrepreneur, in the business of war: a mercenary.
	2nd GENERAL : A competitor in the same line of business.
	GUILD MASTER: A sort of judge and high priest, who decides the outcomes of disputes through simulation.
	SIM 1: A simulated soldier.
	SIM 2: A simulated soldier.

Plot Summary

“It’s tough to scrounge a living, especially when you don’t really exist.”

The President and the Minister confer with two mercenary generals about an imminent attack on their unarmed planet. Someone must defend the planet, but they can only afford the services of one of the generals. One must be chosen, and the way they are chosen is to use simulated soldiers to fight against each other to determine which has the stronger army. Enter the SIMs, and as they fight each other, they wonder between themselves why they are always fighting each other. Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to cooperate with each other against their human masters, who run the simulation? The SIMs conspire to cooperate in order to stay alive. But the pressures of competition are as strong as the pressures for cooperation, and one of the SIMs betrays the other. The contract is awarded to one of the generals, and as the curtain closes, we discover that the generals, themselves, only pretend to compete with each other. They are the best players at their own game.

The Setting

The audience hall of the President of a prosperous planet, somewhere far away in space and time.

Online purchases are for single script purchases only and include $3 S&H. For more than one script or a script package, please call us at (781) 272-2066

God.jpg (10723 bytes)

$4.05/individual copy

$30/package +
$30/performance royalty

Properties List

	A tablet computer for the Minister.
	Storage for the Generals' models: CD-ROMs or flash drives of the future.
	A pair of twenty-sided percentile dice.
	Two fencing swords.
	Two automatic rifles.
	Two soldier's helmets.
	Two fighter pilot's helmets.
	Two remote control units.

Costume Plot

The costumes should be evocative of space opera. Everyone except the SIMs are members of the ruling class of an advanced space traveling society, and they should look the part.

	PRESIDENT: Robes befitting the ruler of a rich planet.
	MINISTER: An expensive, well-tailored suit. Whatever the space equivalent of Italian silk is.
	1ST GENERAL: A mercenary's uniform, just a little spiffier and more fashion-conscious than a government soldier's would be, with his company's logo as his insignia.
	2nd GENERAL: The same as the 1st general's but with a different logo.
	GUILD MASTER: Monkish robes.
	SIM 1: A Leotard with 1ST GENERAL's logo.
	SIM 2: A Leotard with 2ND GENERAL's logo.

RMattson.jpg (41868 bytes) Author Biography

Patrick M Brennan is a playwright trapped inside the body of a computer programmer. He has written many short plays which have been performed in and around Boston, New York, and around the world. His short play Get Out Of My American Way was performed at the 2002 Boston Theater Marathon and was subsequently published by Baker's Plays. He is also the author of three full-length plays, including First Person Shooter, which won the Best Plays 2000 competition at Stageplays.com, was published by the Internet Theatre Bookshop in 2001, and has had several productions around the world. Patrick is President and webmaster of Playwrights’ Platform. See more of Patrick's work at www.pbrennan.net.