“As funny as it is genuinely terrifying.”
“Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete’s Pizza Emporium” at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, 2016
Grownup Plays for Kids
The Dragon Butcher
a play in one act by Richie Cannaday
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! The Royal Dragon Butcher has just croaked! Queen calls on local goat butcher to take his place! Join us as we tell this most lamentable comedy and most uproarious tragedy about a man, his trusty knife, and the carcass of a dragon. Will the new Dragon Butcher please the Queen? Or will heads roll? Find out in The Dragon Butcher, a fiery, bloody, charred-black comedy. Not for the faint of heart.
Mud Summer
a family comedy thriller by Richie Cannaday
Frazzled mom Erin Goldman takes her three precocious cubs, Cora, Kris, and Doozy, on a weekend getaway to a remote cabin in the woods. When a particularly grizzly thunderstorm rolls in, The Goldmans’ plan for a fun vacation gets covered in mud. Told in unrelenting real-time, this tense comedy will thrill the whole family.
Amelia’s Big Idea
A Musical Created by Heather Beasley, Richie Cannaday & Edie Carey
Ten year old Amelia Smart has an idea that could change Townville forever! But it takes more than a big idea when it comes to getting big projects off the ground. Fortunately, Amelia won’t take no for an answer as she calls on everybody from the mayor to the mailman, from the robot librarian to her trusty dog Gadget to get her way. This ain’t your grandma’s infrastructure-musical-comedy-for-kids! Featuring stirring songs from folk artist Edie Carey, Amelia’s Big Idea was a hit all over the Denver/Boulder area in Summer 2022.
Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete’s Pizza Emporium
by Richie Cannaday
Things don’t look good for Penguin Pete’s Pizza Emporium. The animatronic band is on the fritz, and the ball pit is beginning to smell. Owner Frank Murphy is in debt up to his eyeballs, and his staff is checked out. But things go from bad to worse when Penelope Hoffenschweitzer, 10 years old today, bursts onto the scene, determined to have a birthday party nobody will ever forget. The pint-sized villain turns Penguin Pete’s into her own personal party palace. Can Frank and his misfit crew of employees stop Penelope’s havoc in time to save their beloved Pizza Emporium?
Contains depictions of cartoonish violence and bullying/cyber bullying. And light poisoning.
Childish Plays for Grownups
Family Business
by Richie Cannaday
The Brown Twins, Leroy and Lucy, have fallen on some hard times, and have both moved back into their parents' house in the Philadelphia suburbs. When Leroy leaves a jar of edibles unattended, the Browns accidentally get very very very very high, and show their true colors. Based on the novels of Proust (that's a joke), "Family Business" has some cheap belly laughs and is mercifully short.
Contains pervasive adult language, drug use, and violence.
Mag the Gobo
by Richie Cannaday
Mag’s flopped sitcom, “The Tavern,” borrowed heavily from the real-life exploits of his college friends. After years away, Mag returns to his college town to reconnect with his old gang over drinks and a friendly game of darts.
This play is in manuscript form and could use a workshop production. Feel like collaborating?
