Actors, directors, and other theatre artists and enthusiasts may review the scripts online. ANY AND ALL PUBLIC PERFORMANCES MUST BE CLEARED IN ADVANCE. Please let me know if you intend to use a work for an audition monologue (just for my curiosity). To contact me, click the signature at the bottom of this page.

Antigone Sophocles' tragedy in a new version by Richard Engling. Originally commissioned by ShakespeareInc Theatre, Antigone was presented in a staged reading in the Union Gallery of Union Station, Chicago, in April of 2004. It received its world premiere with Polarity Ensemble Theatre February 17, 2006. It has also been produced by high schools, and more productions are currently scheduled. (Royalties for academic and small scale productions are $40.00 per performance). The script is now available in the Polarity Ensemble Theatre Bookstore in the newly published Antigone and Macbeth: Adaptations for a War-Torn Time. The complete text of Antigone is also available as a free download in the bookstore. It is available for evaluation purposes only by directors and others seeking a script of Antigone for use in a production and may not be reprinted or distributed for any other purpose. To arrange for performance rights click here to email us.

Ghost Watch

"The ghosts haunting Richard Engling's Ghost Watch are . . . a married couple who lost their lives when the husband's jealousy turned violent, they're stuck in a sort of astral tape loop -- an endlessly repeated snuff movie in which they reenact their final passion, complete with original terror and rage. And they can't do anything about it because they've got no bodies.

"At least not until Adam and his buddies show up. An ambitious young video maker who figures he can break through to visibility if he can document a haunting, Adam takes over the apartment where the domestic slaughter took place, sets up his cameras, and digs in to see if he can't catch himself a ghost. What he doesn't know, of course, is that the ghosts may very well want to catch themselves a man."

--Anthony Adler
Chicago READER

The Chicago Actors Ensemble produced Ghost Watch in 1987. It was remounted in a new revision by Polarity Ensemble Theatre in 2007.

Before downloading any scripts online, please register. Ghost Watch Copyright by Richard Engling. All rights reserved.


Singing in the Grave: The Musical Comedy of Death

A black comedy with music, Singing in the Grave purports to be a performance art piece in a cluttered Chicago loft. There is a complete draft of the script here, but it's still a work in progress. Anyone who'd like to review the text and give me feedback, I'd love to hear it as I prepare for the next draft.

Before downloading any scripts from this page, please register. Singing in the Grave Copyright by Richard Engling. All rights reserved.

You will need an Acrobat Reader to access the online PDF files. If you don't have one, you can download one free from Adobe.

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My first novel, Body Mortgage, was published by Penguin Putnam in the U.S. and by Headline House in England. The Chicago Actors Ensemble produced my play, Ghost Watch. My short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications. I have been a professional marketing writer for nearly twenty years. I hold a Masters in Creative Writing from Indiana University and have been privileged to participate in workshops by Alice Walker, Grace Paley, and Ursula LeGuin.

To contact me, click on the signature below.