All Save One

Synopsis: Once the most celebrated writer of his generation, Sims Glendenning and the 20th Century have both turned 50. Sims, in Hollywood to film an adaptation of his work, can’t seem to finish anything, and he fears his best work is behind him. When Sims engages a handsome young priest to serve as "technical advisor," his anxiety may just be soothed by a conversion to Catholicism. But is he attracted to God or to the priest? Sims shares his rented home with his wife, famous actress Claire Morgan. Their household is completed by Basil Steele, once Sims's lover and now his acid-tongued secretary. To the outside world, theirs is a conventional arrangement. However, Claire has fallen truly in love for the first time with producer John Grant. Claire informs Sims that, like it or not, she wants out. There are two other complications that could only happen in Hollywood: Sims is being brutally treated by a blackmailing young hustler named Clay, who threatens to expose his sexual exploits. And it seems that, just as Claire has found real love with John, the House Un-American Activities Committee has called him up. As each character is forced to look at the lies and secrecy that he or she has lived with, their desires collide with one another. After Sims is attacked by the unseen Clay, Father Theodor confronts the young hustler, with near-tragic results. The resolution to the “Clay problem” comes from the most unlikely member of this household: Basil.

Notes: . Hollywood setting . Mature audiences . One set! . "Amusing zingers abound...a carefully crafted pattern of revelation, repercussion and tension...All of the characters have a flair for knife-edged quips." - Washington Post . "a drawing-room dark comedy, appealing for its well turned-out honeyed verbal wit, a soupcon of well-placed expletives and snappy Hollywood name-dropping…in its own way, All Save One is a warning about the near future as personal privacy is once again at stake." -- DCMetroTheaterArts