Sammy Doll is a comedy about a an so desperate to save his doll factory that he decides to market one of his dolls to white children only. Kyle Greene quickly gets the publicity he wanted - and just as quickly finds himself embroiled in a mess he never imagined. Black and white customers begin to fight in stores for the dolls. A store owner tries to resist selling the dolls - but opts to make money instead. Right-wing activists embrace Kyle as their hero. And an up-and-coming TV reporter dreams of riding the controversy to the network. Then a group of Dominican nuns enter the fray. They are militants - led by Sister Rhonda, who is black. Rhonda is not afraid of her mother superior or her bishop - who oppose her stance; nor is she afraid to make a point with a baseball bat. Rhoda breaks into Kyle's office and confronts him. They each have a disquieting effect on the other. They attack each other's beliefs and values - but, in some strange way, they also start to help each other. Meanwhile, Kyle must contend with Arthur, the manager of the factory - who is black - and who goes along with Kyle at first, but eventually opposes him. And then there's Grace, who, Kyle learns to his chagrin, had a 32-year love affair with his father. Everyone gets seduced. Seduction is easy. That's what Grace says. And that, as it turns out, is the common link among all the characters. At the end - in a mad attempt to rid himself of the guilt and to try to set things right - Kyle has an inspiration. He finds forgiveness. And - as he and Rhonda leave to have a cup of coffee - there is a hint that perhaps he has found something else as well.
About the Author: Bernard Mendillo writes plays (as well as novels, memoirs and newspaper columns). Mendillo has had 18 productions of 11 full-length plays-two of them off-off-Broadway; and two others have received off-off-Broadway staged readings. He's been produced regionally in Massachusetts, upstate New York and Los Angeles. His new play-The Nickel Jar-is a serious comedy about a man desperately trying to save his marriage and his family. He's written two dramas based on classic works: A House that God Hates-a modern version of Aeschylus' Agamemnon; and Agnes in Camelot-a modern retelling of the Arthurian legend. His wildly dark comedy Mates won the Wykeham Rise National Playwrighting Contest and was produced off-off-Broadway. Eventually, this led to the Mates Trilogy-with all three plays being presented at the Little Theater in Binghamton, NY. The second play of the trilogy, Mates in Paradise, was also produced at the Orpheum Repertory, in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Mendillo's comedy of his generation, The Last Baby Boomer, received a staged reading by the New England Repertory Company, as part of its Festival of New Plays; it was produced off-off-Broadway at the Impact Theater; and it received an off-off-Broadway reading at New Perspectives. Mendillo was playwright-in-residence for the Orpheum Repertory Company in Massachusetts. He was a founding board member of the New England Repertory Company and was its playwright-in-residence. Mendillo has independently published three novels: Dancing Naked with the Devil, Marvin Piersoll and Electra 225 - and three memoirs: Football, Bella in America and Nuns! His novel Marvin Piersoll won the fiction category in the 2011 New York Book Festival Mendillo also has extensive journalism experience; he's written more than 600 works of short fiction and feature articles and humor columns for the Providence Journal, Canton Journal, and Warwick Beacon. Mendillo grew up in Rhode Island; he studied writing at Brown University-where he earned a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Creative Writing/Playwrighting. Mendillo lives in Canton, Massachusetts.