All in the Timing
Encyclopedia
All in the Timing is a collection of one-act plays by the American playwright David Ives
written between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service
in 1994, with a collection of six plays; however, the updated collection contains fourteen. The short play
s are almost all comedic, frequently employing word play
. High-school and college students frequently perform the plays, often due to their brevity and undemanding staging requirements.
David Ives
David Ives is a contemporary American playwright. A native of South Chicago, Ives attended a minor Catholic seminary and Northwestern University and, after some years' interval, Yale School of Drama, where he received an MFA in playwriting...
written between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service
Dramatists Play Service
Established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild and the Society for Authors' Representatives, Dramatists Play Service, Inc. is a theatrical publishing and licensing house...
in 1994, with a collection of six plays; however, the updated collection contains fourteen. The short play
Flash drama
Flash drama is a type of theatrical play that does not exceed ten minutes in duration, hence the name Flash drama. Groups of four to six flash drama plays are popular with school, university and community drama companies since they offer a wide variety of roles and situations in a single...
s are almost all comedic, frequently employing word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
. High-school and college students frequently perform the plays, often due to their brevity and undemanding staging requirements.
The original six plays
- Sure ThingSure Thing (play)Sure Thing is a short comic play by David Ives featuring a chance meeting of two characters, Betty and Bill, whose conversation is continually reset by the use of a ringing bell, starting over when one of them responds negatively to the other....
: A man and a woman meet for the first time in a cafe, where they have an awkward meeting continually reset each time they say the wrong thing, until, finally, they romantically connect. - Words, Words, WordsWords, Words, WordsWords, Words, Words is a short comedic play written by David Ives for All in the Timing. The play is about Kafka, Milton, and Swift, three intelligent chimpanzees who are put in a cage together under the experimenting eye of a never seen Dr...
: Three chimpanzees attempt to write HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. - The Universal Language: A man and a woman fall in love while communicating in the invented language Unamunda.
- Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of BreadPhilip Glass Buys a Loaf of BreadPhilip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread is a one-act play by David Ives, published as part of his 1994 "All In The Timing" collection and first produced at the Manhattan Punch Line Theatre in New York City, January 1990. The short play imitates composer Philip Glass's minimalist style; that is to say...
: A musical parody of minimalist composer Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
. - The Philadelphia: A man is informed by a friend that his frustratingly unlucky day is the result of an anomalousAnomalyAnomaly may refer to:-Astronomy and celestial mechanics :* In astronomy, an anomaly is a quantity measured with respect to an apsis, usually the periapsis...
pocket of reality, called a "Philadelphia," in which he must ask for the opposite of what he wants. - Variations on the Death of TrotskyVariations on the Death of TrotskyVariations on the Death of Trotsky is a short one-act comedy written by David Ives for All in the Timing. The play fictionalizes the death of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky at different moments, though all from the same, historically accurate cause: a wound to the head by an ice...
: Revolutionary Leon TrotskyLeon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
dies several times from a mountain-climber's axe-wound received many hours prior.
Other plays
- Long Ago and Far Away: A married yuppieYuppieYuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
couple, about to move out of their apartment, argues about the nature of reality and becomes caught up in a bizarre scenario concluding in time travel and suicide; this is one of the few purely dramatic pieces in All in the Timing. - Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue: Three miniature golf games taking place simultaneously, showing one man on three separate first dates.
- Seven Menus: Seven dinners at the same restaurant, showing the evolution of one circle of friends.
- Mere Mortals: Three blue-collar construction workers discuss how they are really the Lindbergh baby, the son of Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and the reincarnation of Marie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. - English Made SimpleEnglish Made SimpleEnglish Made Simple by David Ives is the story of a couple named Jack and Jill who meet at a party. As the night progresses it becomes apparent that the two knew each other, and were even involved romantically, before this night at the party...
: A young man and woman meet at a party and their immediate romantic attraction is presented via loudspeaker by a comically unromantic grammar lesson, while they struggle to free themselves from the banal constrictions of party talk. - A Singular Kinda Guy: A monologue about a man who believes he is actually a typewriter.
- Speed-the-Play: A parody of the works of American playwright David MametDavid MametDavid Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
; his major works are each lampooned. - Ancient HistoryAncient History (play)Ancient History is a one-act play written by American playwright David Ives in 1990, and then revised in 1996.-Plot:The Village Voice described Ancient History as consisting almost “entirely of digression”. The play opens with the ominous ringing of an off-stage telephone. As the lights come up...
: A couple discusses tradition and relationships before and after they hold a party; one of the few dramatic works in All in the Timing.