Stage & Screen

Michael's Stage Plays and Acting Roles

Payable upon Return

A Play by Michael Varga

In 1983, the Juniper Press at the University of Notre Dame published a play that I had written, Payable Upon Return (ISBN#: 0911187-01-04). In 1985, the Acting Ensemble of South Bend, Indiana staged the premiere of that play.

A two act play, Payable Upon Return centers on the conflicted reactions of a group of Americans when one returns from a stint in the Peace Corps in Africa with an African boy. One set, five actors. The premiere featured: Perry Mincy, Jerry Berebitsky, Mary Kay Blaschke, Chelle Walters and Dennis Mooney and directed by Jim Geisel.

Photos from Payable on Return

After Birth Stems the Urge

A Play by Michael Varga

While I was stationed at the American Consulate General in Casablanca, Morocco, some students at the Hassan II University decided to produce the first act of another play I had written, After Birth Stems the Urge, about migrant farmworkers in the U.S.

A three act play, After Birth Stems the Urge centers on the birth of a baby in a migrant camp on the
Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay; and how this birth affects the priest and the nurse sent to work there, and changes the lives of the migrants. One set, nine actors. The premiere featured: Aboutaib Merieme (SJ), Mellouk Aziz (Louis), Keffaoui Brahim (Bobbie), Elouassi Hassan (Cestlavie), Lotfi Souad (Lucie), El Falh Amina (Katie) Mouadafi Aissa (Osborn), Akhmiss Redouan (Ben), Guerouani Mohamed (Matt). Directed by Chakib Bnini.

Epiphany in the Spud Room

A Play by Michael Varga

In 1991, the New Works Theatre of Arlington, VA produced a one act play I had written, called Epiphany in the Spud Room.

This takes place in November 1979 in a school for training young men to be Jesuit priests and when the Iranian hostage crisis erupts, the commitment to the religious life must be re-examined at an accelerated pace. One set, four actors. The premiere featured: Robert Sean Fri (Matthew), Al Calabrese (Mark), Raymond Ficca (Luke), Steven Perry (John) and was Directed by Dennis Dulmage.

Photos from Epiphany in the Spud Room

Acting Roles

The Odd Couple – (Murray, the cop) – Lionheart Theatre, Norcross, GA (2013)
On Golden Pond – (Charlie, the Mailman) – The South Bend Civic Theatre, South Bend, IN – (1983)
The Good Doctor – (Chekhov, the writer) – The South Bend Civic Theatre, South Bend, IN – (1982)
Loose Ends – (Russell) – The South Bend Civic Theatre, South Bend, IN – (1982)
You Can’t Take It With You – (Tony Kirby) in a Streetlight Theatre Production in South Bend, IN – (1982)

Michael Varga (left) and John Sterchi in You Can’t Take It With You, South Bend, Indiana (1982)

Casablanca Express

filmed in Morocco in 1989

I have about 8 lines at the end of the film as a GI Medic. (That’s me wearing the helmet with the red cross on it.) Glenn Ford, Donald Pleasance, and Jason Connery star. You used to be able to view it on Youtube, but due to copyright restrictions, it is no longer viewable on Youtube in the United States.