The Wasp: And Other One-Act Plays

By Robert Manns

In an age of miniaturization, the one-act play should find itself at home.

People do attend concertized etudes, most often for the piano, and that is precisely what a one-act play is-an etude. Sometimes it's a character study, others a piece of action, still others a complete little story, and several strung together selectively can make a program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 11, 2008
• ISBN: 9780595605200

Robert Manns

Robert Manns was born in Detroit; spent six years in New York, where he received his first productions; and later moved to Florida and eventually Atlanta. He wrote his first play when he was 19, his first poem when he was 21. He has taught dramaturgy at Emory University in Atlanta and, while director of Callanwolde Art Institure in that city, initiated the poetry readings still held today. Even before serving as field representative for the National Audubon Society, wildlife and the environment had solidly manifested themselves in his writing.

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The Wasp

and other one-act plays—

Copyright © 2007 by Robert Manns

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-0-595-47769-2 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-60520-0 (ebk)

Contents

Preface

The Wasp

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Pilleried

Tete-a-Tete

Ty

La Commod

Tabula Rasa

The Cockroach

The Briefing

Preface

I have to say that, in an age of miniaturization, the one-act play should find itself at home.

Also, in the age of dictating shorter full length plays and smaller—wee, in fact—casts, I think the one-act has a whole estate to occupy.

People do attend concertized etudes, most often for the piano, and that is precisely what a one-act play is—an etude. Sometimes it’s a character study, others a piece of action, still others a complete little story, and several strung together selectively can make a program.

—RM

The Wasp

Image1869.JPG

Characters

Setting

The interior of a bar, perhaps a room of such. There is no waiter or waitress; Bert supplies refreshment for Yvonne and himself. Bert enters from the direction of the Vespa, removes a pair of black gloves, sits in one of two chairs. A third belongs to the scene but not to the table; it is a presence, never occupied. It is there.