DON'T HUG ME     Musical Comedy
Wrote the book and lyrics for Don't Hug Me, including 17 original songs. 

 Winner of 4 Artistic Director Achievement Awards

                                 Best Original Musical

                   Best Author Original Play

                             Best Director

                       Best Ensemble Cast

Received top honors in The Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, the McLaren Memorial Comedy Playwriting Competition and was selected top 5% in The Chesterfield Writer's Film Project out of 2,600 scripts. Don't Hug Me is available for licensing through Samuel French Publishers.

Please visit www.donthugme.com for more info.

Synopsis: The setting is a small bar in Bunyan Bay, Minnesota, up near Canada. It’s the coldest day of the year and Gunner Johnson wants to sell his bar called, "The Bunyan," and move to Florida. Clara, his wife, wants to stay. The waitress, Bernice Lundstrom, wants to pursue a singing career. Her fiancé, Chanute Gunderson, wants her to stay home. When a fast talking salesman, Aarvid Gisselsen, promises to bring more romance into their lives through the magic of karaoke, the lutefisk hits the fan.

Featuring 17 original songs including:
- I’m a Walleye Woman in a Cräppie Town
- My Smorgasbord of Love
- Upside Down in my Pickup Truck
- I Wanna go to the Mall of America
- The Bunyan Yodel
- The Ice House Blue

"A lot of laughs!...A great time!...Go see it!" - Tom Barnard, KQRS Radio
"The quintessential definition of fun!" -KLBB Radio
"A hokey-jokey karaoke crowd pleaser!" - Los Angeles Times
"A quirky, charming musical!" - Joel Zwick, Director of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
"Terrifically silly!" - LA WEEKLY
"Immerse yourself in two hours of fun and farce!" - The Tolucan
"Delightful!...Adorable!...Silly!...Funny!...A real crowd pleaser!" - Valley Vantage
"Outstanding!" - American Eagle News
"Sensational!" - The Blade
"A feel good love story!" - NoHo LA
"Oh fer sittin" on the cat, it"s a dern good night out at the local bar!" - Canyon News

"Clever...Eclectic...More than the typical hotdish musical review!" - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"One of its songs rhymes "Minnesota" with "Abe Vigoda" and you just have to love that!"     - St. Paul Pioneer Press

"The Olson brothers have done for karaoke what Christopher Guest did for folk music in "A Mighty Wind!" - Sherman Oaks Sun
"This is the funniest show that I"ve seen in the longest time!" - KPFK Radio
"Hilarious!"Part of the fun was seeing who laughed the loudest and at what!" - Sons of Norway
"A loopy valentine to his home turf in snow-ravaged Minnesota!" - Backstage West
"What do you mean Don't Hug Me? I want to hug everyone involved in this delightful musical!!" - Ronald Jacobs, Producer/Director/Writer - Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke Show
"Two hours of fun and farce!"  The Tolucan
 

A DON'T HUG ME CHRISTMAS CAROL     Musical Comedy                                  Wrote the book and lyrics for A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol, including 17 original songs.

A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol, the sequel to Don't Hug Me, opened and played in 5 cities simultaneously in 2006, extraordinary for live theatre.

Please visit www.adonthugmechristmascarol.com for more information.

A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol is now available for licensing through Samuel French Publishers.

Synopsis: It's Christmas Eve and cantankerous Gunner gets in an argument with his wife, Clara. He declares that he doesn't want to have Christmas this year, storms out of the bar and goes snowmobiling across the lake. On the lake, he hits a soft spot, falls through the ice on his skidoo and goes into a coma. Gunner then comes back to the bar in his dream and witnesses what goes on when he's not there. He's visited by world famous folk legend, Sven Yorgensen, who plays the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future. Sven takes Gunner (Scrooge) on a journey similar to that in "A Christmas Carol" only very different. Will Gunner come out of his coma and find redemption at The Bunyan? Find out.

Featuring 17 original, soon to be classic, songs including:
- It's Christmas Time so Water the Tree
- Stuck in a Chimney
- The Christmas Cheese Polka
- The Wheel is Turnin' but the Hamster is Dead
- You Can Call Me Tiny
- It's Christmas Time so Please Give Me Some
- Gunner Fell Into an Ice Hole

- I'm So Hosed

- What Would Barbra Streisand Do?

"Best Musical of 2006!" -Reviewplays.com
"Non-stop laughs!...I loved it!" - LA Scene
"A wonderful, zany musical comedy!"   - Irish News
"A crowd-pleasing holiday hoot!…Book your seats today!"  - Tolucan Times
"Big laughs!...A fun-filled holiday vacation!" -Studio City Sun
"Holiday amusement for the whole family!...It’s the delicious holiday chocolate that more than makes do while  you're waiting for that new bicycle!" - Valley Scene
"A laugh a minute!"   - Norway Times
"It's not a wonder that this enjoyable holiday musical
has been extended more than once!" - National Jewish News
"Hysterical!"  - KCLA Radio
"Rib-tickling fun!" - St. Cloud Times
"There were tears in my eyes with laughter!" -The Ticket Stub

"If you're looking for something to put you in the holiday spirit, be sure to catch A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol!"  -Kane County Chronicle

Click to view

Studio City Sun Review

St. Cloud Times Review

Norway Times Review

National Jewish News Review

Nowcasting.com Review

Tolucan Times Review
Kane County Chronicle Review

A Nice Family Gathering, won the Rochester Playwright Festival, was a finalist in the The Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, and The Phoenix Theatre’s Festival of Emerging American Theatre, and a semi-finalist in the Ukiah Players New Comedy Festival as well as the Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project. The play was produced in Los Angeles at the Groundlings Theatre and at The Group Repertory Theatre, receiving LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week. The play was also produced in Rochester, Minnesota as part of the national playwright competition, and at the Scandinavian Festival in Thousand Oaks, California.

Please visit www.anicefamilygathering.com for more information.

A Nice Family Gathering is now available for licensing through Samuel French Publishers.

Synopsis: A Nice Family Gathering is a story about a man who loved his wife so much, he almost told her. It’s Thanksgiving Day and the first family gathering at the Lundeen household since the Patriarch died. At the gathering, Dad comes back as a ghost with a mission; to tell his wife he loved her, something he neglected to tell her while he was alive. After all, they were only married for 41 years. The problem is, she can’t hear or see him. The trouble begins when Mom invites a date for dinner.

"…hilarious and touching…" LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week 

"…exquisite sense of humor…memorable characters…" Daily Variety

"…a good heart is behind all this family silliness…" Los Angeles Times

"…Garrison Keillor meets "Topper" by way of "Fargo"…" NPR

"…a surefire, laugh-a-minute hit…" The Tolucan Times

"…hilarious…superbly directed…" American Eagle News

"…uniformly superb performances…" NoHo News

"It’s packed with mishaps that translates into fun…" Encino News

Click to view
Variety Review
LA Weekly Review
Tolucan Review
Norway Times Article

CRÄPPIE TALK   a.k.a. KOLD RADIO, WHITEFISH BAY   Comedy  TWO-ACT PLAY

Cräppie Talk won the Gilmore Creek Playwright Competition and was a semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project. The play was produced at The Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood, receiving LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week, and at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota as part of the national playwright competition. Cräppie Talk was also produced at the Scandinavian Festival in Thousand Oaks, California, and at the Hostfest; the national Scandinavian Festival in Minot, North Dakota.

Please visit www.koldradio.com for more information.

Cräppie Talk is available for licensing through Eldridge Publishing under the title, KOLD Radio, Whitefish Bay. Please visit www.histage.com for info about licensing.

Synopsis: The setting is Whitefish Bay, Minnesota, up near the Canadian border. Lars Knudsen is the host of a radio show called, "Crappie Talk," devoted entirely to ice fishing for Crappies. Lars has no listeners, so he loses his only advertiser, Ole’s Bait Mart and Deer Petting Farm. Martha Bjorklund, Lars’ love interest, hosts "Book Beat." She has all the listeners, and all the advertisers. Lars has issues with this. The issues multiply when a Brooklyn Italian comes to Whitefish Bay, buys the radio station, promotes Martha and fires Lars.

"Olson has actually come up with a two act pilot for a TV series. In high conseptese, it’s Cheers, meets WKRP in Cincinnati, meets Newhart…and throw in Fargo, too…" LA Times

"Combine superb comic writing with solid direction and a smart cast with great timing, and you’re headed for a comedy hit." LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week

"…hilarious…side-splitting pace…A real audience pleaser, this comedy is totally silly, entertaining and refreshingly unique." The Tolucan Times

"A heart-warming tale in cold Minnesota where you’ll find love, laughter and a wonderful time." Irish News

"Set in the American Heartland of Whitefish Bay, it is the plain spoken Minnesotan story of Lars Knudsen’s need to find love…" American Eagle News

"…a pleasant romantic comedy…very entertaining." Gardena Valley News

"This one really reels in the laughs." Arthur Cantor - Tony Award Winning Producer

Click to view
LA Weekly Review
Sun Times Article
Winona Daily News Article
Hostfest Article
Crappie Talk -Hostfest

THE SECURITY GUARD  a.k.a THE NAM
A security guard at a mattress warehouse takes his job a little too seriously. The Security Guard is available for licensing through Heuer Publishing at www.hitplays.com.

THE FOLKSINGER
A folksinger who pretends to be much more than he is.

HURRICANE GRAMMA

Three people are evacuated to a high school gymnasium during a hurricane; the work-a-holic advertising executive, the woman of his nightmares, and the most lovable, interfering old woman are all "ruled" by an over-zealous security guard. Hurricane Gramma is available for licensing through JAC Publishing at www.jacneed.com.

TODD and BECKY
Two homeless people find love on the streets. Toddy and Becky is available for licensing through Heuer Publishing at www.hitplays.com.

THE FOREST RANGER
Too many Sequoia’s, too little time.

THE TOUR GUIDE

A tour guide at the Gene Autry Museum makes things up to sound impressive.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT

Two women meet a man in a bar and discover his disturbing secret. Girls Night Out is available for licensing through Heuer Publishing at www.hitplays.com.

APOLLO CREED vs. MOTHRA
Co-wrote and performed in sketch comedy with fellow Groundling Alums at The Attic Theatre in Hollywood, and at The Company of Angels Theatre in Silverlake.

NO WAXY BUILD-UP
Wrote and performed sketch comedy at The Upfront in Santa Monica.

PUBLIC DOMAIN
Wrote and performed sketch comedy in Tampa, Florida.