JASON HALF : writer
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Among the Oats
    Cycle of six one-act comedy plays,  3M  
    Presented previously as "by Jason Hall"             
        PRODUCTION: Minnesota Fringe Festival, August 2008
        PRODUCTION: University of Southern Maine, 2002
        VIDEO SERIES: broadcast on Maine Public Television, 1998


Synopsis: Trapped inside an oatmeal canister, Art, Bruce, and Cal tackle a series of existential problems, including their biggest one: how to put up with each other.

Notes: Among the Oats was the first ambitious project I produced. Moving from the Midwest to Portland, Maine, I fell in with creative people and felt inspired. Scripts were originally written to be shot on video in a six-episode series, and all six can be viewed, in their primitive but still watchable public access form, by searching YouTube or by clicking the links below.

The order for the six episodes are:
  1. DREAM - Bruce and Art campaign for elected leader of the oats, with Cal as the entire voting electorate.
  2. MONEY - Cal finds a quarter among the oats, and within minutes the local economy is ruined.
  3. SEX - A meditation on romance and Russian princesses, as each person tries to remember life and love before the oats.
  4. PERFECT - It's vacation time for one-third of the oats population, which tests the patience of the working class.
  5. FASHION - The space may be shrinking, but some newly-discovered duct tape fans a fashion war between Art and Cal.
  6. DEATH - Art, Bruce, and Cal must deal with the realization that life among the oats is finite.

The scripts have been adapted for the stage with notable success. Each performance to date has chosen to present three of the six one-act plays in chronological order. I share the script to the first play here, "Dream." Please contact me if you have interest in performing this or any additional scripts in the series.

To download the first script, use the link below. To view the YouTube series, please scroll down to the video links:
Among the Oats 1: DREAM
File Size: 128 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

PictureDGA member #91072
The copyright of this script is hereby asserted by author JASON HALF. Any public reading, production, performance or adaptation is prohibited unless permission is received from the author. Companies and artists interested in producing this script are welcome to contact the author through email at Jason@jasonhalf.com .  Jason is happy to collaborate with artists as long as he is aware his work is being presented in the first place.  

View the video series Among the Oats on YouTube. Six episodes total, each in two parts. Embedded video links of two episodes are listed below; please use the URL links to view all episodes.

Episode 1: Dream     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqLdJpp3NxI&spfreload=10
Episode 2: Money    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gYBEJOb_kw&spfreload=10
Episode 3: Sex          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VOzwRX5aA&spfreload=10
Episode 4: Perfect    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1gz_ZOL1BE&spfreload=10
Episode 5: Fashion   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdZih60XuY8&spfreload=10
Episode 6: Death      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a9OJK6vXs0&spfreload=10
Unless otherwise stated, all text content on this site is
​copyright Jason Half, 2023.