The Chair & smaller

Below are a synopsis for smaller and The Chair, the first two plays I wrote at Columbia.

Both were produced fairly quickly after writing them - at least in theatrical terms.

smaller was produced in San Francisco where it should've been. Unfortunately, the ceiling of the space we did it in was too low to light the play called for. So the glass office it took place in - symbolized by a harshly defined trapezoid of light that gradually gets smaller and smaller - never really happened. It would've been cool, but sometimes you have to let things go.

The Chair was first produced at the Hangar in Ithaca and later at the NY Fringe.

If you'd like a copy of either, email me at malachy14@mac.com.

Tomorrow, the second play I wrote at Columbia: Dressing the Girl

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smaller

Drama, full Length, one act.

Matt and Paul, an advertising art director/copywriter team, have been together just a little too long. Like a marriage gone bad, they fight over everything from which women are desirable in the office to what makes a good boss. But when the dot com bubble they’ve been living on bursts, the bickering gets bitter and the fish bowl office they work in becomes smaller and smaller until only one can survive.

CAST: 2 M

NOH Space, SF - production - 2002

Tensions mount in an ad agency as two men wait to see who's getting the ax, in this skillful play by Malachy Walsh
By Michael Scott Moore
August 14, 2002, SF Weekly

"...humor and suspense are character-driven, and the actors tangle skillfully... {Walsh's} 'candid look at just how small life in a cubicle can get' isn't as familiar or dry as it sounds, and Walsh deserves to be watched."

The play was also featured in Wendy Lesser's Three Penny Review as an example of what a good theater going experience should bring up in an audience, particularly in a changing SF landscape. She GOT it.

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The Chair

Drama, One Act – 50 minutes.

San Francisco in the winter of 2002. The economics of the economy are not good, but Lauren, young, ambitious, hard working still wants a raise. Actually, she NEEDS a raise. But when it’s clear that it won’t be coming, she confronts her boss, Katherine, about why. The two women, at opposite ends of the career spectrum, face off in job review that calls into question just who's career is being evaluated - the one in front of Lauren, or the one Katherine has left behind.

CAST: 2 F

NY International Fringe Festival, Relentless Theatre, NY - 2004, OVERALL EXCELLENCE IN PLAYWRIGHTING AWARD

Hangar Theatre Lab, Summer Play Lab winner, Hangar Theatre, Ithaca, NY – 2003

Bay Area Playwrights Festival, SF - Honorable Mention – 2003

Patricia Neal Award for Emerging Writers, National Arts Club, NY - 2002