BRIG

On the endless tides of the hungry Atlantic
The crew of The Searcy…changes.
Ol’ Matey Bo’sun locks himself in the brig.
Over the next forty days
He sends us his messages in a bottle.
No sea birds were harmed in the makings of this tale.

BRIG: A Ghost Story for Film
35 minute Video-On-Demand

“BRIG is the best solo horror we’ve seen so far.” - The Young-howze theatre journal

SOFT

The dating app said it was looking for "nice guys" and "hopeless romantics" for a new experiment...so here he waits, ready for anything. He is desperate. He is soft. He will bleed.

***CAUTION***

SOFT CONTAINS: Violence, blood & gore, swears galore, misogyny, male fragility, & mansplaining. 

In all seriousness, SOFT contains potentially triggering content & unsettling subject matter.

SOFT is definitely not for children. But talk to them about it afterwards.

PS - SLYDE is not a real dating app, but it might be based on one.

Read an excerpt on New Play Exchange here

"Strong writing and acting allows the interplay to increase to a nerve-racking level of intensity." - Star tribune

"Then things get weird. Then they get more weird. Then they get dangerous." - MINNESOTA PLAYLIST

"When the end game becomes clear, the show makes a very pointed commentary" - PET SNAKE REGGIE

"your sympathies are twisted and turned back on you." - MN Fringe Audience Review

"a quiet, non-confrontational terror." - MN Fringe Audience Review

"Desperate, so lonely it could make you scream, and anxious as having to play Russian roulette with half the revolver loaded." - MN Fringe Audience Review

"Motz is trying to reframe the definition most people carry around about what a solo performance is."
- The Young-Howze Theater Journal

"Motz’s greatest talent is letting his audience follow along with his character’s footsteps without judgment."
- cincinnati city beat

"elicited such laughter from the crowd that the show used up every last second of the allotted time."
- cherry & spoon

"Parody without melodrama and social commentary without being bashed over the head."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"This was a show that took a caricature and over the course of an hour, revealed that he was, in fact a fully-realized character with a very definite moral compass."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"I think I have a little crush on Critter." 
- MN Fringe Audience Review (and everyone)

Knifeslingin'!

Ted "Critter" Montana teaches YOU to survive the streets

Ted "Critter" Montana knows the streets & will teach YOU how to survive: no guns, no karate chops, just KNIVES. Think you got what it takes to be the next Knifeslinger, hotshot?

1989 A.D. The Streets, USA. Crime runs rampant. Nowhere is safe. Fear is winning. And the world is about to be rocked by “KNIFESLINGIN’! Ted “Critter” Montana Teaches YOU to Survive the Streets”. Critter walks The Warrior’s Path. Critter is not afraid to stand his ground. And Critter carries more knives than you can even count, tough guy. If you think you got what it takes, pop KNIFESLINGIN’! into your VCR, strap up your switchblades, and pay attention. It just might save your life. 

Cut to: 2017. The Warrior’s Path has lead Critter to a Grand Jury hearing in Minneapolis. Can he knifesling his way out of this? 

Read an excerpt on New Play Exchange here

The Jackpot Hour With(out) Jack Power

It's The Jackpot Hour with Jack Power, America's #1 game show! Even though Jack Power has left to host his own talk show, The Jackpot Hour with Jack Power must go on...so now, welcome your new host, NOT Jack Power!

Meet Cliff Kunkel. He's NOT Jack Power, but he's the new host of The Jackpot Hour With Jack Power, America's #1 Game Show, now that Jack Power has left to try his hand at replacing Johnny Carson with his own talk show, "Jack Chats!".

Except Cliff doesn't have any hosting experience...and he kind of doesn't know the rules of the show, and oh yeah, The Jackpot Hour With Jack Power is filmed live for some reason.

"Motz performs so effortlessly yet by the end you’ll know he’s carefully crafted each and every moment to a T."
- One Girl, Two Cities

"Motz has once again proven himself as one of the best playwrights in the Twin Cities."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"Emotional and professional wreckage has never looked so sincere."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"how dare you. so funny. so worth it. i cried for a timberchimp. how dare you."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

Read an excerpt at New Play Exchange here

"I’m in awe of Motz’s talent in putting together this complex and poignant show. "
- One Girl, Two Cities

"The most impressive one man show I've ever seen."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"a hell of a shaggy dog story."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"A heartbreakingly honest portrait of the artist."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

Read an excerpt at New Play Exchange here

Ding Dong!
Sing Song!

So Nana is turning 95, or you feel like quitting your job, or maybe propose to your girlfriend at prom. Call the ding-dong who sings songs! He'll sing your greetings for you perfectly, or maybe not, guaranteed!

The ding-dong who sings songs will dress up.
The ding-dong who sings songs will dress down.
He will twist & shout,
He will shake it all about,
He will bust a move,
And rock a groove.

He may, if he feels like it, even deliver your specialized custom telegram message...the way he wants to, anyway.

But he will, definitely, NOT take your "unsophisticated" opinions and disagreements on his "art".

And he will, definitely, talk about all you Philistines on his podcast.

Rewind-A-Buddy

Buddy wants to be YOUR FRIEND. And Buddy is on home video! Seriously. All you gotta do is pop him in your home VHS system, and Buddy will take the friendship from there! ALL OF IT. Over and over. And over.

Dust off your old VHS player and pop in a copy of REWIND-A-BUDDY, the rentable, watchable, rewindable friend! No more pesky human interaction, technology and Buddy do all the work for you!

Buddy is here to talk to you, take you on a journey through his High School yearbook, and even play a game with you! So what if he's on the other side of the screen... Buddy is still up to the task!

...He thinks...

"First of all this piece just begged us to coin the term ‘weaponize nostalgia’. […] Motz used that to create a space that was familiar enough so we let our guards down."
- The Young-Howze Theater Journal (2021)

"both hysterically funny and heart wrenchingly sad all at the same time."
- TC Daily Planet (2014)

"Smart, funny, introspective, revealing. boom."
- MN Fringe Audience Review (2014)

"Audacious writing and an energetic, engaging performance make Rewind a Buddy worth the trip."
- MN Fringe Audience Review (2014)

"Experimental, brave, provocative, and a helluva energetic performance. Odd gems like this are the very reason I love the Fringe Festival."
- MN Fringe Audience Review (2014)

"phenomenal, hilarious, and sneakily profound"
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"This show requires the audience's undivided attention and participation."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"Cerebral and emotional, dark and humorous"
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"Motz tosses the fourth wall and traditional theatrical structure into the wood chipper."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"Amazing presentation, fascinating topic, wonderfully told."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

"captivating with a beautiful ease; charismatic without being showy."
- MN Fringe Audience Review

Boxcutter
Harmonica

Just what is "Boxcutter Harmonica"? Deal with the devil gone wrong, a 400 year murder mystery solved or the second fiddle's blues? Two existential detectives finally have the answer.

It's all a con, they say.

A new song unearthed in the Library of Congress Archives, believed to be the long lost, long fabled 30th recording of Robert Johnson, arguably the greatest of all delta blues guitarists?

Impossible!

The song is the Second Fiddle's Blues, because, the legend goes, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to learn how to be the greatest. What would someone else be willing to do to take his place?

Furthermore, an unsolved murder from the days of the Renaissance of a colleague of Michelangelo on the eve of helping him paint THE LAST JUDGMENT at the Sistine Chapel bears striking resemblance. Was he murdered? Had he made a deal with the devil to get out from Michelangelo's shadow?

What do these two men, 300 years apart, one a painter, the other a blues man, have in common?

Luckily, Inspector Black and Detective White of the prestigious* "Black, White, & The Blues Historical Investigation, LTD: We Start Where Wikipedia Ends" firm bring their Award-Winning* Deductive Reasoning to shed some light on this mystery, and will not allow you to leave until The Truth (capital T's both) is revealed.

* - Notation Needed.