BookCover-SlaveOrFreeFred A. Woodress, DivHqs, is the author of a new book of plays, “Slave or Free and 11 Other Problem-solving Plays” with wife Anne Blackmon Woodress from AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Ind.

Two of the plays by Fred Woodress are about World War II. “Impasse,” a one act about an infantry company in the Schnee Eifel Hills of Germany, was reprinted from “Best One Act Plays 1948-49.” Following its first publication, a New York Times reviewer called it “a war play of superior quality” while Saturday Review Magazine said “it had dramatic punch.”

The other war play is how three scared GIs celebrated Christmas with a female war correspondent Christmas 1944. It was one act of a five part “Middletown at War” play by four other Muncie (known as Middletown from the Lynd books) playwrights, collaborating with Woodress.

A third war related play is about a GI who returns to Cannes in 1950 to look up an old girlfriend from his wartime days.

The title play by the couple is about York, Captain Clark’s slave, and Sacagawea, sold to her husband for a gambling debt. “What if” they ran away from the expedition while in friendly Shoshoni Territory? The play was a finalist in Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s annual Ten Minute Playwriting Contest in 2004.

Fred and Anne also wrote a Civil War one act (“A Day The Weeds Grew”) about a teenage girl who helped the Confederates defeat the Yankees from Indiana in a skirmish. They also wrote a bio play (“Wandering…from Kentucky”) about Cincinnati’s Daniel Drake, an 1800s physician who was bigger than life and influenced the Western frontier’s culture as well as its health.

Cliff Robertson, Oscar-Emmy Award winning actor, wrote introductory remarks. He and Fred were friends at Antioch.

“Slave or Free,” a 282 page print-on-demand book, is available online at Amazon.comBarnes And Noble and at local bookstores for $16.95. It can be ordered from AuthorHouse (1-888-280-7715) for $12.50 plus mailing or can be downloaded from AuthorHouse.com for $4.95. The AuthorHouse book number is 21093.

 

The Twelve Plays

Slave or Free: A night of decision on the Lewis & Clark Trail
The Relunctant Nudist: A cover-up in a nudist resort
Wandering…From Kentucky: Bio of a visionary egocentric physician
Impasse: An army veteran confronts the enigma of his anger
The Danton Way: Tension is a dysfunctional family in St. Louis
Train Ride to Muncie: Differences can be binding
I Live From Day to Day: A veteran searches Cannes for his lost love
A Day The Weeds Grew: A teenage girl helps win a Confederate battle
The Premium: Intrigue in the mountains of Kentucky
Robert and Helen: The Middletown Team: The Lynds study Muncie
The Plotters: Middletown’s power brokers fight feisty editor George Dale
A Letter From Home: Three scared GIs celebrate Christmas in wartime 1944

"I Live From Day to Day" is set in a bar in Cannes. Faye Sperling played Jeannette Ferrand and John Booker Jeff Stevenson in the University of Alabama in Birmingham's Town and Gown Theatre premiere at the Tutwiler Hotel.

“I Live From Day to Day” is set in a bar in Cannes. Faye Sperling played Jeannette Ferrand and John Booker Jeff Stevenson in the University of Alabama in Birmingham’s Town and Gown Theatre premiere at the Tutwiler Hotel.

Private First Class Fred Woodress photographed near Saalburg, Germany, shortly after VE Day, May 1945. The 87th Infantry Division became part of the Army of Occupation at Plauen in Saxony near the Czech border.

Private First Class Fred Woodress photographed near Saalburg, Germany, shortly after VE Day, May 1945. The 87th Infantry Division became part of the Army of Occupation at Plauen in Saxony near the Czech border.

Fred and Anne Woodress

Fred and Anne Woodress

Fred Woodress interviews Marilyn Monroe in 1953. Fred remarked: "She was a warm, wonderful person who gave me full attention while interviewing her during her lunch break while shooting a billboard for "Niagara." Some stars talk to you while looking over your shoulder for someone more important. Not Marilyn."

Fred Woodress interviews Marilyn Monroe in 1953. Fred remarked:
“She was a warm, wonderful person who gave me full attention while
interviewing her during her lunch break while shooting a billboard
for “Niagara.” Some stars talk to you while looking over your
shoulder for someone more important. Not Marilyn.”

U.S. Army Star
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