Forensics Series Volume 1 : Duo Practice and Competition : Thirty-Five 8-10 Minute Original Comedic Plays

Inside you'll find thirty-five original comedic duets for one male and one female with unique characters, hilarious situations, and fresh material. Since these plays were specifically written for competitions, the language is acceptable, no props are necessary, and they can be done with or without blocking. And, they fit within the 8- to 10-minute time limit! This book is a gold mine for acting students and their teachers.

Barbara Lhota is an award-winning playwright as well as a screenwriter. The Studio’s production of her play, Third Person, was selected by the Boston Herald as one of the top ten plays of the 1993-94 season. She was awarded the Harold and Mimi Steinberg for Hanging by a Thread at the Crawford Theater at Brandeis University. Green Skin, her most recent collaboration, was staged at the Producers’ Club with Theatre Asylum in New York.

Her plays have been produced at various theaters across the country including the Ritz Theater in New Jersey, the American Stage Festival in New Hampshire, the New England Theater Conference, and the Wang Center in Boston. In addition, her shows have been performed at several off-off Broadway Theaters including Tribeca Lab, Madison Avenue Theater, Love Creek Productions at the Nat Horne Theatre and the Phil Bosakowski Theater.

She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Brandeis University, where she was an artist-in-residence and taught playwriting. Barbara now lives in Chicago, where she has had the opportunity to see Strangers and Romance at the Athenaeum Theatre with Jupiter Theater Company, Family Portrait performed at the Bailiwick’s Directors’ Festival, Third Person through Symposium at National Pastime, Flyin' High with Artistic Home and Morbid Curiosity with Women’s Theater Alliance at Chicago Dramatists and with Writers’ Block at The Theater Building.

At present, Barbara is collaborating with Ira Brodsky on a screenplay, The Long Shot. Barbara’s plays, Strangers and Romance, can be found in Smith and Kraus’ Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2001. She can be reached at blhota@aol.com.

Janet B. Milstein is an actor, acting teacher, and private monologue coach. She received her MFA in Acting from Binghamton University in New York, and her BA in Theatre with Distinction from the University of Delaware. Janet has an extensive background in theatre, having performed at numerous theatres with a variety of companies, including the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Organic Theater, ImprovOlympic, Writers’ Block at the Theatre Building, Tinfish Productions at the Athenaeum Theatre, National Pastime Theater, Stage Left Theatre, Mary-Arrchie Theatre, the Women’s Theatre Alliance at Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Q, Cafe Voltaire, and more. Janet has appeared in a number of independent films, as well as working in industrials and voice-overs.

Janet has taught acting to undergraduates at Binghamton University, to apprentices at Fort Harrod Drama Productions, to students at John Robert Powers, Chicago (where she was named Best Instructor), and to children and adults in various acting workshops. In addition, Janet has trained more than 450 talent contestants for competition at the International Modeling and Talent Association conventions in New York and Los Angeles.

Currently, Janet works as a private acting coach in Chicago, training beginning and professional actors in monologues and cold readings.

Janet is the author of The Ultimate Audition Book for Teens: 111 One-Minute Monologues and Cool Characters for Kids: 71 One-Minute Monologues. She is the co-author of Forensics Duo Series Volume 2, Duo Practice and Performance: 35 8-10 Minute Original Dramatic Scenes.

If you would like to contact Janet, you can e-mail her at Act4You@msn.com.