Rich, Author at Rich Helms - Playwright

Recycled Revelations

25 February 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: At a community rummage sale, Carol Phillips sells items collected by her late father to declutter her apartment. Much to her surprise — and delight — she is guided by his unseen presence. She enjoys interacting with a variety of shoppers who express interest in objects that hint at incidents in Carol’s family history and unresolved emotions.

Paul Jackson and his aging father, Richard, browse the items on her table. A handmade bird quilt becomes the focal point of surprising revelations. Struggling with memory loss from dementia, Richard claims he once owned the quilt, while from beyond, Carol’s deceased father insists that it was his. Past and present intersect, taking the audience on a trip through the human aspects of pride, regret, aging, and reconciliation.

In an expression of compassion for the difficulties Paul and Richard are facing, Carol gifts the quilt to Richard. She realizes it will provide some emotional comfort in his internally puzzling world. This encounter inspires an interesting connection between Carol and Paul, suggesting that they can help each other move forward with their lives.

Recycled Revelations mixes humour, tenderness, and subtle supernatural elements to explore memory loss, death and the continuing bonds between generations. The audience is reminded that even discarded objects can carry profound human meaning.

Dear Angie

27 February 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: Angie Brown owns a small diner that provides no menus. She serves her customers using an unusual gift: on instinct alone, she knows exactly what food — and advice — each customer needs, usually before they ask. Regular patrons come for great food, but also for comfort, advice, and a feeling of being understood.

On a busy day, Angie brings dessert first to a young woman struggling with marriage tensions and helps her come up with a strategy to ease things at home. She provides a free meal to a homeless former restaurateur whose life unraveled after tragedy and is impressed with his discerning palate. Then the unthinkable happens — she serves a high-school student who reminds her of her late son, but for the first time, she cannot read his needs. This quiet young man’s presence unsettles her, but she takes his order graciously.

As their conversation unfolds, the stranger reveals that he is a messenger sent by Angie’s deceased son to guide the elderly woman toward her own transition from life. Tired and ready to face whatever fate is next, she makes sure to leave her beloved diner in capable and caring hands.

Sensitive and profound, Dear Angie celebrates compassion, generosity, acting on instinct, kindness, and the comforting idea that even death can be guided by love.

Footnote: I am currently working on a second act, Open All Night, which takes place twenty years later.

Identical Twins

25 March 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: Martha arrives at a scenic and well-loved lakeside cabin and discovers her boyfriend, Damian, dead. His identical twin, Janus, claims they were confronted with a break-in that turned deadly. However, something doesn’t add up to Martha. She perceives details such as a mole on the wrong side of Janus’s face, and she suspects his sketchy explanations and strange behaviour.

Tension rises, and Janus confesses to impersonating Damian in the past. He even shares the fact that he secretly dated Martha to experience what his quieter brother seemed to have to attract her. He is jealous of his brother and possessive of Martha, and the truth finally emerges: the brothers had a confrontation that ended with Janus fatally striking Damian and staging the scene as a robbery.

Realizing that her own life is in danger, while they wait for the police, Martha needs to convince Janus she will go along with his scheme. As soon as the police arrive, in a final twist, she exposes Janus, revealing both his deception and the murder. The audience is left to understand that although twins can be identical on the outside, they may be totally different emotionally and morally.

Accidents Arranged

25 February 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: Set aboard a stylish 19th-century paddle-wheel steamboat in 1856, Accidents Arranged is an entertaining romantic mystery that revolves around two main characters who both use charm and deception to gain the upper hand with the other. The result is a surprise.

Wealthy businessman Arnold Crump discovers he has been swindled by a beautiful woman wearing a flamboyant, blue-feathered hat. Out for revenge, he hires Bert Newsome, a hitman who specializes in making murders look like accidents, to kill her during the steamboat voyage.

When Bert meets Cora Lee, a lovely woman wearing a blue hat, unexpected sparks fly. Each sets out to manipulate the other through flirting. Cora chokes on a salad crouton at dinner, Bert and must decide whether to let her die or save her. He chooses compassion, and the rescue ignites genuine romance.

Their connection is so profound, they share their backgrounds. Cora explains that she is the daughter of a con-artist mother who trained her in deception and mentions that she borrowed her mother’s hat. Meanwhile, Bert reveals that his chosen profession stems unexpectedly from a string of conveniently timed “accidents.”

As love deepens, loyalties shift, and in a final ironic twist, Cora’s bossy mother dies — not by design, but by accident. Or does she? Bert and Cora see future potential in a business, as well as a personal, relationship.

With snappy dialogue and the clever use of dark humour, Accidents Arranged explores drive, corruption and the non-choreographed dance between luck and purpose. The audience is left to think that the most satisfying partnerships might be arranged by accident.

The Cards Lied

25 March 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: The Cards Lied is a 30–minute historical fictional murder mystery set in 1920 Bootle, England, just after The Great War. Based on intense research, the plot of this play is believable in a historical context. As men returned from the war, women were pushed out of the jobs they held to keep the country and the war running. Many of these women turned to spiritualism to help themselves and others stay connected to the loved ones they lost.

In this play, three women who once worked side-by-side at the Cunard Shell Works find themselves embroiled in a disturbing scenario. One of them is dead, and her daughter is determined to search for the truth of how her loved one passed on. One who supervised production at Cunard now bitterly finds herself without a job and social standing. The third reads cards for a living, but at times, the cards lie. A man with deep ties to nature helps to carry out a plan to catch a murderer.

The Cards Lied poses an interesting reconsideration of responsibility, pressure and guilt.

Footnote: I am currently working on a second act, The Canary Girls’ Secrets, which takes place two years later.

After: Death Is Just the Beginning

9 March 202624 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: After being fatally shot during a botched bank robbery, Todd finds himself in a confusing in-between existence called “After,” where the dead — known as passers — coexist invisibly alongside the living. While he struggles to understand his new reality, Todd meets Brat, a blunt, yet unexpectedly compassionate former hooker who was murdered years earlier. She helps newly dead souls like Todd who are frustrated trying to adapt to their bizarre after-death existence.

Todd soon learns the rules of “After” — no heaven, no hell, only personal states of mind. He also discovers that his girlfriend, Jessie, is shattered by his death and is considering ending her own life. With help from Brat and another passer, Spike, Todd is desperate to reach Jessie across the life-death gulf.

A Tarot reading helps the passers establish an emotional connection with Jessie. Todd manages to express the depth of his love for her and urge her to keep living. When Jessie reveals she is pregnant with his child, Todd realizes his purpose: to help her move forward with her life and that of the baby’s.

Dark humour combined with romance create a supernatural mystery. After: Death Is Just the Beginning explores the concepts of life and love beyond death, the difficulties faced by those left behind, and the importance of forging bonds with those around us. The ending also inspires expressing love by accepting and letting go.

On The Edge

25 March 202623 February 2026 by Rich

Synopsis: Adam lies gravely ill in a hospital bed and subconsciously finds himself suspended on a literal and metaphorical edge. He is “seated” between life and death, with his feet dangling over darkness. Like standing on a precipice over Niagara Falls, he feels tempted to jump off into the abyss, but resists.

A mysterious presence known as “The Voice” starts up a conversation with him. This disembodied character claims to be one of many guides assigned to help souls decide whether to move forward into death or fight their way back to life.

Their discussion leads Adam and the audience through the patient’s stages of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Throughout, Adam grapples with fear, regret, the sadness of unfulfilled dreams, and the guilt of his own perceived shortcomings. The Voice responds with a puzzling combination of mockery, humour, and overly friendly language that challenges Adam to confront what truly matters.

Meanwhile, the off-stage pleas of his wife, Ruth, tug at him emotionally from the world he may choose to leave behind. She reminds him of love, fun, responsibility to kids and grandkids, and the life they’ve built together.

Combining dark humour with emotional gravity, On The Edge explores the delicate place between survival and submission — and the human act of choosing to live or die. The audience is left to think about the profound conundrum of determinism vs. free will.

Learning an Italian Accent

11 March 20267 July 2022 by Rich

(July 7, 2022)

I have been through a fascinating exercise in the past few days. I was thinking of auditioning for a part. (Paravicini and The Mousetrap) The character is Italian so requires an Italian accent.

Basically an accent is when a speaker uses their native language phonetic rules to pronounce the English words. This gave me an idea. I went into the Amazon Web Services Polly. Polly is a text-to-speech engine. I put in the character’s dialog and asked Polly to treat it as Italian and read it.

Amazing. I had found another site on Italian accents for the stage. When I listened to Polly’s reading of the dialog, I hear many of the guidelines followed.