2023 True Story Showcase

The True Story Showcase recognizes scripts, books, short stories & stage plays in any genre that feature a story based on, or inspired by, true events.

2023 WINNER

PRIVATEER

written by Raphael Broussard

When pirate and privateer Jean Lafitte's fleet is captured by the U.S. Navy, he negotiates a pardon in exchange for helping General Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. (Based on the life and exploits of Jean Lafitte).

2023 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

A CITY CLEAN AND GOOD by Daniel Lin Worthen. Two immigrant women, one Chinese and the other Irish, contend with a frontier town's ethnic cleansing campaign in the 19th Century American West. (Based on the expulsion of Chinese from Tacoma, Washington Territory, in November 1885.)

ADVENTURE CAPITAL by Ruben Soto. Just as a headstrong young man gets back on track with the help of his thrill seeker older brother, their worlds intersect with a skydiving drug smuggler and the U.S. Government cover up of a Central American gun running operation. (Based on the lives and deaths of Andrew Thornton II and David "Cowboy" Williams.)

ANGEL EYES by Richard Mauro. In 1947, in the lead up to his execution, an unrepentant and murderous Commandant of Auschwitz seeks mercy. (Based on Rudolf Höss.) | Vimeo

ASH by Dave Stockwell (based on the nonfiction book "Route 9 Problem: The Battle for Lang Vei" by Dave Stockwell). A Special Forces medic, Eugene "Ash" Ashley, Jr., forced under fire during the Vietnam War, must attempt to rescue fellow Green Berets trapped by enemy tanks, becoming the first African American awarded the Medal of Honor in Special Forces history. | Website: LangVeiBattle.com | Facebook

BEDLAM ON THE RAILS by Wayne Eugene Johnson (based on the book "Bedlam on the West Virginia Rails" by Wilson Casey). Two armed, down-on-their-luck young hoods, a speeding streamliner, and a bad idea result in railway pandemonium not seen since the days of Butch Cassidy. (The true story of the last American robbery of a moving train in 1949.)

BILLY AND GEORGE by Ken Jones and Darryl L. Harris. General George Washington and his closest companion and enslaved person, William "Billy" Lee, discuss, argue, and challenge the concepts of freedom, war, and ultimate love as they prepare to cross the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, just hours before the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War. (Inspired by the life of William "Billy" Lee.) | Website: BillyAndGeorge.Info | Writer Website: KenJones1.Online | Article in Metro Weekly | Review in Broadway World

BILLY THE KID (Episode 1) by Steven Sasso. A young man survives alone in the old west by attaching himself to criminal associates, but even after finding a place with a law-abiding community, a turbulent range war and his own penchant for violence drive him to pursue a life of crime and notoriety, resulting in his own tragic demise. (Based on the life of William H. Bonney.)

CALL ME DEBRA by Agustin S. McCarthy & Melanie RW Oram (based on the memoir "Not Until You Have Walked in My Shoes" by Debra J. Hopkins). When a Black Baptist minister comes out as a trans woman, she fights against a world that wants to erase her in order to reclaim joy and live as her authentic self. | Website: AgustinMcCarthy.com

COMMITTED by Jill Morley (based on the book "A Marked Woman" by Joan Foor). A family is torn apart in 1956 when a mother is institutionalized by her husband against her wishes and her teenage daughter fights to get her out. | Website: JillMorley.com | Twitter: @jillmorley | Instagram: @jillmorley

DUKES by Tim Tuchrello (story by Mohamed Mirghahari & Scott Shepard). A talented, seven-foot athlete reluctantly leaves his home to attend University, where he can pursue a professional basketball career. (Based on the story of Walter Dukes, a young Black man in the 1950s.) | IMDb

FANFARE FOR THE COMMON GIRL by Laurie Nelson Altenbern. A former All Star in rural Nebraska starts a girls track club to teach girls how to run with the boys, all before Title 9. (Based on the story of Coach Jerry E. McGinn and the South Lincoln Track Club.) | LinkedIn

HOBEY by Tom Mackie. In the early 20th Century, before Babe Ruth and Red Grange, an undersized, multi-sport athlete becomes America’s first Superstar, a WWI hero who carries himself with such gallantry and grace that no one sees the internal conflict that drives him to unforeseen heights. (Based on the life of Hobey Baker.) | IMDb

LIKE HIM by Brian McGrath. A man struggles with his adult relationships as he works through his abusive childhood with the help of his brother and his long-time imaginary friend. (Based on the writer's life.)

LUDLOW by Sarah Kennedy. A beleaguered Greek miner draws a reluctant strike-instigator into the throes of a Colorado mining revolt, sparking a labor dispute with horrifying consequences. (Based on The Ludlow Massacre in 1914.) | Stage32 Profile

ONLY APPARENTLY REAL by Michael Judd Richter. Philip K. Dick investigates a break-in at his house. Before it actually happens. (Inspired by Philip K. Dick.) Website: MichaelRichter.com

PURSUIT OF PARADISE (Episode One: From Home to War) by Thomas N. Smith (based on the book "Pursuit of Paradise: The Story of an East Texas Farm Boy, The Pacific War, and Love" by Thomas N. Smith). A young Texan endures a grueling tour of duty during WWII, battling his way through tropical jungles in the Pacific theater of the conflict and returns home to marry his sweetheart. (Based on Horace G "Red" Smith and his experiences during the War in the Pacific from 1941-1945.) | Facebook: @TomSmithPursuitOfParadise

RITCHIE BOY by Alan J. Field. An Austrian concentration camp survivor who has escaped the clutches of a sadistic commandant is trained as a U.S. Army O.S.S. interrogator only to be captured at the Battle of the Bulge by the same commandant who tortured him. (Inspired by the World War II experiences of George Robert Field.) | Website: AlanJField.com | Twitter: @field19

SAVING MARK TWAIN by Staton Rabin. Mark Twain has a whopping case of writer's block, is nearly bankrupt, and fears his Muse is gone forever - but when an infuriating, star-struck fan, who is an unknown reporter from India named Rudyard Kipling, invades his life and steals his teenage daughter’s heart, it just might be the key to unlock the famous author's biggest secret, and restore his confidence. (Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's account of the events.) | Website: StatonRabin.com

SUPREMACY by Rosalyn Rosen. An accomplished writer and daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors interviews the defected Director of Propaganda and Youth Recruiter of the Aryan Nations. (Based on the writer's experience.) | Twitter: @rosalynrosen

THE POSITIVE KID by Robert Finoccoli. An aspiring actor escapes a traumatic childhood to star on an ABC soap opera. (Based on the writer's life.)

THE TRAVEL WRITER by Laurence Deblinger (based on Robert Louis Stevenson's life and his travel writings "The Amateur Emigrant", "Across the Plains", and "The Silverado Squatters"). The young and little-known Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson follows a captivating married woman from France to California and through the journey finds his true voice as an author.

VOYAGER by Damien Mulvaney. In a cruel twist of fate, a young Australian naval officer endures the loss of five fellow midshipmen in a training accident, only to be assigned to the destroyer HMAS Voyager for her tragic last mission, where he honors his classmates’ memory. (Inspired by the HMAS Voyager disaster.)

WHACK-A-MOLE (Pilot Episode "Into the Cabbage") by Amanda Boyden and Tana Parry. A small-town woman, who lives a mundane existence until DNA testing reveals her dad isn’t her father, arrives at mid-life crises two-point-oh-fuck, after having tick-borne diseases, her mother’s erupting Alzheimer’s, and mayhem and deaths thrown into the mix. (Inspired by co-author/writer Tana Parry's life)

WHATEVER IT TAKES by Drew McInturff. With only one year to win the World Series, a desperate General Manager looks to get ahead any way possible, even if it means cheating the game he loves. (Inspired by the story of Jeff Luhnow and the Houston Astros’ 2017 scandal that rocked Major League Baseball.)