Next: A Ten-Minute Play

＂NEXT＂In the award-winning comedy NEXT four women: Claire, Joan, Barbara, and Anne while sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for a mammogram learn more about their breasts, their lives, and the true meaning of support!AWARDS & NOTICESSamuel French Off Broadway New Play Festival, NYC, NY. Barebones Theatre, Finalist, Charlotte, NC. Love Creek Productions, Winner, NYC, NY. Breast Cancer Awareness: Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA, Excela Health, Pittsburgh, PA, Southeast Georgia Health System, Brunswick, GAABOUT THE PLAYClaire the oldest of the group, sits and waits patiently as she quietly knits. Joan the youngest there for the first time, is nervous and anxiously looks to the others for advice. Barbara the sexiest is irritated by the unending attention focused in the media on a woman’s breasts. And Anne, the last woman to arrive with the flattest chest of the four, is just eager and enthusiastic and relieved she’s not late!So, when the machine breaks down and the women decide to wait, the receptionist/nurse in her zeal seizes the moment as the perfect opportunity to educate the women on the finer points of a self-examination. It’s while examining their breasts, they examine their lives and realize together they have a lot more in common than just their breasts.The play is based on true-life accounts. SETTING: A typical waiting room of a doctor’s office where the characters are dressed in identical seersucker hospital gowns, waiting for a mammogram.Note: The play can be performed with only four folding chairs on a basically empty stage.CHARACTERS: CLAIRE: The oldest of the four women. She has arrived first and has been waiting the longest. (She should be at least 60+ years old.)JOAN: The youngest of the four women.BARBARA: The sexiest of the four women.ANNE: The last woman to arrive...the flattest chest of the four women.RECEPTIONIST/NURSE: A professional woman of any age.Special Thanks: To my sister in Virginia Beach who had an experience like this while waiting to get a mammogram and on her way home stopped by the side of the road to call and tell me about it.

Mary Miller is an award-winning writer. Best known for her play FERRIS WHEEL, she was recognized by Random House as one of America’s ＂finest playwrights＂ winning over a dozen national playwriting awards including the John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award (In the Kitchen) the Dayton FutureFest (I Witness & Waiting for Oprah) as well as a finalist at the National Repertory Theatre Foundation (A Matter of Grace) and the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival (Ferris Wheel). Her work continues to be produced all over the world.