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Vital Theatre Company's Vital Signs Features 16 News Plays, Dec. 1-18

By: Dec. 01, 2005
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Vital Theater Company will present the 10th installment of Vital Signs, the company's annual new works festival.  The three-part series showcasing 16 new plays begins Thursday, December 1st and continues through Sunday, December 18th at the McGinn/Cazale Theater.  Performances run Thursdays through Sundays at 7:00 p.m. 

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The first week of performances will be from December 1st-4th, Thursday through Sunday at 7:00 p.m.  One romance ends and another begins when four friends on their way to a wedding take a Relationtrip by Sharyn Rothstein, directed by Catherine Ward.  In Norman! by D.T. Arcieri, directed by Alexis Williams, Norman is on an obsessive quest for truth about a lost dog, His funny and poignant journey ends with a revelation that changes his life.  Passed Hordes by Mark Harvey Levine, directed by Brad Caswell explores all that is profound in life—perception, connection and the importance of really good hors d'oeuvres.  A dying actress has her own remembrance of things past in Sorrento by Lucile Lichtblau, directed by Vital Theatre's Cynthia Thomas.  According to one really annoying mime, it's All in the Miming by Qui Nguyen, directed by Alexendra Hastings.

Week two will last from December 8th-11th, Thursday through Sunday at 7:00 p.m.
In Sandlot Ball by Michael John Garces, directed by Mary Kate Burke, Eric has acquired a pirated copy of a new, unreleased, highly anticipated video game, which he shows off to all his friends.  In Harper Lee's Husband by Thomas H. Diggs, directed by S. Caden Hethorn, reclusive author Harper Lee has finally landed herself a man…but he's actually a balloon.  Friend and self-appointed historian Truman Capote relates the tragic chronicles of this unconventional marriage, illuminating one of the … lesser-known chapters in the life of the literary genius.  Last Stop: Neverland by Jackie Maruschak, directed by Christopher Fessenden  follows the author on her quest for Neverland.  In American Soil  by Ellen Margolis, directed by Teresa K. Pond, a middle-aged man becomes obsessed with trees after the 2004 Presidential election.  In The Prisoner's Dilemma by Michael Wolfson, directed by Mahayana Landowne, two women, both strangers to each other and detained without explanation, try to find something in their lives that could have led to their detention, only to find that their efforts lead to even more questions…until it's too late.  In Giblet: A Nightmare by Ian Finley, directed by David Hilder, it's an old-fashioned family Thanksgiving, where "pass the gravy" comes complete with seething hatred and paranoid delusions.  

Week 3 is entitled Arts Pass in Process; it will be held from December 15th-18th, Thursday through Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Artspass.com, the premier product of Arts4All, Ltd., is the web's first comprehensive subscription and on-demand arts and entertainment service providing original streaming movies, celebrity interviews, performances and breaking arts news.  ArtsPass.com pioneered ArtsPass in Process, an online series providing a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. To kick off the series, ArtsPass developed a 10-minute play series with playwrights Susan Miller, (who led the process), Kate Moira Ryan, Eric Lane, Andrea Lepcio and Garth Wingfield.  Over eight weeks, ArtsPass digitally captured the creative development of the 10-minute plays as they evolved from a blank page into initial meetings, table readings, first draft critiques and directors and actors at work. The project culminated with a staged reading of each play and an in-depth interview with the playwrights—all streamed on the website.  Vital Theatre Company now takes this creative process from digital to analog by giving these five short plays full stage productions.  To enhance the experience at Artspass in Process week at Vital Signs, the five 10-minute plays and interview with the playwrights are being re-posted for streaming at www.artspass.com.

The plays are Reading List by Susan Miller (OBIE winner, 1978 and 1998), directed by Cynthia Croot, which explores the adventure possible within a library full of texts that may soon be considered "unacceptable."  In Notes by Kate Moira Ryan, directed by Marya Cohn, it's Method acting meets Gulag when a Lifetime movie actress Maggie needs a little inspiration for her latest role and she calls acting coach Olga.  In Ride by Eric Lane, directed by Daisy Walker, things are not as they appear for two teenage girls working at a farm stand in rural New Jersey.  In Second Kiss by Andrea Lepcio, directed by Stephanie Gilman, the question of teenage lesbian sex angst is answered at last.  Please Have a Seat and Someone Will Be With You Shortly by Garth Wingfield, directed by Laura Josepher, takes place in a doctor's waiting room where two strangers sit quietly when something shocking happens: they start talking to each other.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students.  TDF accepted.  For reservations, please call TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101 or purchase tickets online at www.theatermania.com.  The McGinn/Cazale Theatre is located at 2162 Broadway (at 76th Street) on the Fourth Floor.  Visit www.vitaltheatre.org for more information.




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