Hey, Mom. Tell Rod...

By Thomas M. Kelly

SYNOPSIS:
In the city of Seattle, Washington, Rodney and Maggie Smythe receive a message on Rodney's telephone answering machine from Maggie's son Danny by a former marriage, saying "Hey, mom, tell Rod I am coming home, see ya' soon.". Danny and Rodney, step-son and step-father, have had a strained relationship since Rodney and Maggie were married. The message sends Rodney and Maggie into hours of arguments, wild goose chases, unanswered questions and dead end situations. They call airlines and Amtrak to find him and his family on their passenger lists. Unable to find them they decide to drive to the Amtrak Station to meet a train they think may be the one they are on, only to come up empty handed.
While they are off on this wild goose chase, Danny, Angelique and Danny Junior arrive at Rodney and Maggie's home, park their car in the garage and fall into bed exhausted.
Hours later Rodney and Maggie return home exhausted and saddened having not found them at the train station.
On his way to bed Rodney stumbles over the luggage left by Danny in the hallway. They hear a baby crying and decide to bring the "hungry" Danny Junior into the study for a visit. Minutes later Angelique screams from the bedroom.
Why has Danny left a lucrative position in a large law firm in Los Angeles to return to university?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas M. Kelly
• Release date: Aug 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452457789

Thomas M. Kelly

Résumé: Thomas M. Kelly EDUCATION: Mr. Kelly was born and raised in Muscatine, Iowa. He is a graduate of Hayes Catholic High School, a graduate of Orange County Community College, Middletown, NY. and went on to attend two years at the University of California, Davis and is a graduate of Lincoln Law School, Sacramento, California. "Once a Marine, always a Marine" ('57 - '60). PUBLISHED: A monologue, “Sara”, from his play “...smile, and smile, and be a villain.”, is included in Young Women's Monologs From Contemporary Plays: Professional Auditions For Aspiring Actresses, edited byGerald Lee Ratliff, State University New York, Potsdam and published in 2004 by Meriwether Publishing, Ltd. A monologue, “Zhev”, from his play “Fana!” will be published by Smith & Kraus Inc. in an anthology: 221 One-Minute Monologues From Literature. JAC Publishing, Burlington, MA, has published interJACtions: Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature contains three of Mr. Kelly's monologues. HONORS: “The Butterfly Within” is included in the Eileen Heckart's Senior Drama Archives in the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University. LOCAL THEATRE AWARDS: Several Elly Nominations and Elly Awards including Best Overall Production, for “A Shayna Madel” by Barbara Lebow, and Best Set, for “Nighthawks and Night Café” by Edward Evan Blake, based on the painting “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. “Wake up, Jay! It’s Christmas!”, winner of four Elly Awards for Young Peoples Theatre, including Best Overall Production. OTHER WORKS: "Mixville" (Jubal 'Tom Mix' McCabe is a happy-go-lucky, wanna-be cowboy movie star. As a youngster he was a "little Tom Mix", cleaning out a nest of imaginary outlaws in the family backyard in typical Tom Mix fashion. Those were the days of the popular dream: to grow up to be like Tom Mix.), “Extreme Unction”; “The Timekeeper”; “Zen and the Art of Making Par”; “The Butterfly Within” (A heartwarming story of culture clash as an old Jewish gentleman and a young Korean girl discover the meaning of the rest of their lives atop a Lower East Side tenement); “Fana!”, (The ordeal of three trapped survivors of suicide bomb blasts spend their last hours justifying their lives and religions: two very honestly, the third very deceitfully. In a mental duel the three argue the rationale of murder/suicide bombings using the Qur’an, Hindu philosophy and the Torah as authority.); and “smile, and smile, and be a villain.”; (A frightening glimpse at the life of a victim of Borderline Personality Disorder); “Ba-Bang!” (An analytic political cartoon caricature of “Dubya”); "The (Mis)Adventures of Charlie & Jay": a montage of four short children's plays, including "Stop Snoring, Jay! I’m Dreaming of Christmas!"; "Wake Up, Jay! It’s Christmas!"; "This is Not our Backyard, Charlie!"; and "You’re in Trouble Now, Charlie!". “Ba-Bang!, The Musical”; “Waiting for Mahmoud”; “How To Improve Your Life in Four Easy Moves”; "Yuyustu" (part of the 'Mixville' series); "It's'a comin' inta' bein' ", co-authored with Paul Hauck; and “Pádraig’s Aibhistear”. “Ole’ Gimlet Eye” is a biographical play about Major Smedley Darlington Butler, U.S.M.C. General Butler was a man who defied the powers that were, to wage a war against war in the days before World War II: “War is a racket! I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”; “Frankie and Johnny Were Schweethawts”; "Liza!"; "Pawns are but Poor Men"; "Save yer pennies, kids." (part of the 'Mixville' series); "Sacred Ground" (part of the 'Mixville' series); "Hey Mom, tell Rod..."; and "On the Line", are more recent full-length plays, with more in premature flight. He has written and produced many children’s plays. They feature Charlie, a French Briard puppy, and Jay, a Persian Red Point feline. In 1994 Mr. Kelly founded the award winning Thistle Dew Theatre in Sacramento and is founder of the highly successful Thistle Dew Playwright’s Workshop in 2005. In 2012 Mr. Kelly founded the Super Political Action Comedy (Super PAC) Theatre and it's blog: http://superpoliticalactioncomedy.blogspot.com/ , and other blogs; http:/thistledewtheatre.blogspot.com/ ; http://thistledewcenterforliteraryart.blogspot.com/ ; http://wordstreetsmarts.blogspot.com/ ; & http://californiaplaywrightstheirplays.blogspot.com/ .

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Hey Mom. Tell Rod...

A play by Thomas M. Kelly

Published by Thomas M. Kelly,

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Thomas M. Kelly

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