Playwright

michaelhalperin@ sprintmail.com

Executive Story Consultant, 20th Century-Fox; Story Editor, Universal Television (IMDB.com). Plays: All Steps Necessary, Los Angeles premiere commissioned and produced by Inkwell Theater; Mela. Command performance, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem; Chestnut Trees, Premiere TCT Play Festival; Driving James Dean, Celebrity Staged Reading Series, Los Angeles; Freedom, Texas, Celebrity Staged Reading Series, Los Angeles; The Spark of Reason, Promenade Playhouse, Santa Monica, California; Dancing with William Blake, Group Repertory Theatre, North Hollywood, California. Historical Fiction: Black Wheels, NEA African American 100 Best Book List 2005-2019. Non-fiction: Jacob’s Rescue (co-author), Random House, ABA Best Book, Children’s Book Council; Notable Children’s Trade Book, Int’l. Reading Assn. Teacher’s Choice; Writing Great Characters, Lone Eagle; Writing the Second Act, MWP; Writing the Killer Treatment MWP. BA, Communications, University of Southern California; Ph.D, Film Studies.

Hidden Wisdom

A quartet of one-act plays adapted from the short stories of Sholem Aleichem, I.L. Peretz, Franz Kafka, and Dvorah Baron. Originally commission by Rabbi Harold Schulweis, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California.

All Steps Necessary

An 80 minute one-act inspired by a true incident. On November 12, 1938, two days after Kristallnacht, Hermann Göring calls a meeting of the Nazi elite who meet over coffee and pastries to determine the fate of all the Jews of Germany. During the meeting a battle of personalities rages between Göring, Goebbels and Gen. Reinhard Heydrich. 8 men 1 woman – one set interior.

Commissioned by Inkwell Theater. Premiered 2006 in Los Angeles.
“Leaves no trenchant chill untilled” Los Angeles Times
“Power begets madness in ‘Steps'”Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

Dancing with William Blake

Drama – 90 min After fifty years of marriage, how does a man cope with the death of his wife and the dream of recapturing a lost moment from his youth? 1 man/4 women

“It speaks with poetry, feeling, and a genuine sense of the human character.” John McDonald, Director, First Stage

The Spark of Reason

Drama – Two acts Based on a true story. Revenge, love, betrayal, and religious intolerance intertwine with the dramatic events leading up to the excommunication of 25 year-old Baruch Spinoza. 8 men/2 women.

Bed and Breakfast

Comedy – Two acts
A disillusioned screenwriter and his therapist wife are conned into buying a bed and breakfast only to discover that the pastoral life isn’t pastoral and not much of a life. 4 men/5 women

Mela

90 min
A Catholic-Polish woman recounts the harrowing true story of her family’s rescue of three Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto and keeping them safe for four and a half years under the constant threat of exposure. 1 woman

A Chair by the Wall

Comedy – 15 minutes
Adapted from a story by Sholem Aleichem. Twin brothers battle over
custody of their father’s synagogue chair next to the eastern wall. 4 men.

Desert Stories

Two one-acts on a common theme.
Freud at Sinai Comedy – 50 Min.
A remarkable encounter between Moses and Sigmund Freud at the foot of Mt. Sinai leads to an argument between the great leader of the Exodus and the father of psychiatry about the wisdom of giving the Ten Commandments to the world. 2 men/2 women

Poor Timing Comedy – 30 min.
Three determined angels attempt to convince Moses that he must die before reaching the Promised Land. He refuses to obey the dictates of God and the battle escalates until the angry Creator intervenes. 2 men/1 woman