Not Performed

July 1969

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In 2021 I wrote a stage adaptation of “The Mouse on the Moon” from the book The Mouse on the Moon by Leonard Wibberley It was my first full length stage play. I did extensive research on the Apollo 11 moon mission. I rewrote the plot but based it on the original book place and … Read more

The Mouse on the Moon

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On July 20, 1969 two spacecraft landed in the Sea of Tranquility one from the most powerful nation on earth, the United States, the other from the smallest, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

Who got there first?

Adapted with permission by Rich Helms from the book The Mouse on the Moon by Leonard Wibberley

In July 1969, two spacecraft lifted off to take men to the Sea of Tranquility – one from the most powerful nation on earth, the United States, the other from the smallest, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

The US Saturn V rocket stood 363 feet tall, weighed 3,100 tons and was powered by liquid hydrogen.

The Grand Fenwick rocket was a US surplus Little Joe II, 55 feet tall, 50 tons and powered by an atomic motor fueled by Pinot Grand Fenwick ‘Fifty-eight’ wine.

Who got there first?

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Red Riding Hood Noir

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Tagline: A streetwalker. A wolf. A diner at 2 a.m. Sometimes the darkest fairy tales offer the greatest hope.

Synopsis: Red Riding Hood Noir reimagines the classic fairy tale in a 2 a.m. diner where a weary streetwalker named Flame meets a mysterious man known only as Wolf. Able to glimpse the immediate future, Wolf offers people standing at life’s crossroads one final choice. As Flame confronts her own despair, she discovers that survival is only the beginning. Together they help others—including a lonely grandmother facing death—find hope, forgiveness, and peace.

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Ten Thousand Kilometres

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INTRO: Ten Thousand Kilometres is a ten-minute stage play for three actors set entirely inside a car. Over the course of seventy-one cancer appointments, a husband and wife turn necessity into a fictional cross-country drive to make each real journey bearable. Each trip carries them farther west across Canada, guided by a dashboard GPS and measured in kilometres, audiobooks, gas stations, and places to eat.

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Taking Turns Holding On (Monologue)

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Taking Turns Holding On is a deeply personal and often humorous monologue about a long marriage shaped by illness, loss, and resilience. Moving through decades of shared experience, from the heartbreak of stillbirth to cancer, chronic illness, and recovery. It explores how caregiving is never a fixed role, but a lifelong exchange. In the face of … Read more

The Diner Cycle

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SYNOPSIS: The Diner Cycle is a series of 3 short plays set in a mysterious diner that exists somewhere between life and whatever comes next. One by one, strangers arrive—confused, searching, or unaware that their lives have just ended. Guided by those who came before them, each must confront unfinished questions, unexpected truths, and the possibility that helping someone else move forward may be the only way to move forward themselves.

The diner never closes. The coffee is always hot. And the conversation continues.

The Diner Cycle brings together three short plays:

  • Dear Angie
  • Open All Night
  • After: Death Is Just the Beginning

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Dear Angie: Open All Night

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A second act to Dear Angie, set twenty years later — with the diner open again.
SYNOPSIS: Dear Angie: Open All Night is a heartfelt two-act, 20-minute, play set in a small diner where food and compassion are served without menus. Angie, a warm-hearted diner owner with an uncanny ability to sense what people truly need, helps her patrons navigate love, loss, and life’s everyday struggles — until a mysterious visitor reveals her gift has a deeper purpose. Twenty years later, the diner exists in a place between life and death, where souls arrive seeking comfort, understanding, and closure. When a former customer returns under unexpected circumstances, Angie helps him confront grief and forgiveness.

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Summer of 69 Job (Monologue)

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Synopsis: Fresh from his first year of university and confident from prior camp experience, a young Rich Helms takes a summer job as a counsellor at a boys’ camp for inner-city kids near the soon-to-be legendary Woodstock festival. Expecting a routine summer in the woods, he instead encounters culture shock, rough language, unexpected humour, and eye-opening social realities that challenge his assumptions about the world.

Through comic mishaps, awkward first impressions, and unforgettable camp moments — from Ex-lax-laced hot chocolate to watching the moon landing together — the experience becomes both hilarious and formative. By summer’s end, Rich returns home changed, carrying with him new perspective, colourful vocabulary, and a lasting appreciation for how profoundly a single summer job can reshape how you see people and yourself.

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Identical Twins

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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.

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Accidents Arranged

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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.

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