SOFT ANIMALS: A WORLD PREMIERE Announced At Vivid Stage

Vivid Stage, in residence at Oakes Center at 120 Morris Avenue in Summit, will present a world premiere production of Soft Animals by Erin Mallon from September 29 through October 9. All audience members will be asked to mask while at the theatre.

Soft Animals is a comedy with heart that asks, what would your life be like if you couldn't feel physical pain? If your body had a mind of its own? What if you never fell asleep? How about if you remembered every single thing you've ever felt, thought or experienced? Four medical misfits sign up for a three-day workshop to tackle their issues. Can a former male nurse and self-professed "woo-woo" guide them toward healing? Or... perhaps they aren't the ones most in need of a cure.

Erin Mallon is a playwright, author, and narrator of over 550 audiobooks with a special affinity for the romance genre. She is a six-time Earphones Award Winner and a five-time Audie Award Nominee. Her audio play These Walls Can Talk is a 2021 Independent Audiobook Award Winner for Humor. The Natural History Series is Erin's debut trio of romantic comedy novels: Flirtasaurus, Lovebug, and Sharkbait. Erin's plays have been presented with Urban Stages, New Georges, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Collective, Cherry Picking, Great Plains Theater Conference, Samuel French #OOB Short Play Festival, Project Y Theater, Dreamcatcher Rep, Mile Square Theatre and more. Erin's play Branched (dir. Robert Ross Parker) premiered with InViolet Theater at HERE Arts Center in NYC and is in print with Original Works Publishing. Her play, The Net Will Appear had its Off-Broadway Premiere at 59E59 Theaters in NYC starring the great Richard Masur and is now available on Audible.com as an audio drama co-starring Matilda Lawler (Disney Plus' Flora & Ulysses, Broadway's The Ferryman). Erin's Other full-length plays include: Good Riddance, Soft Animals, Hand Me Down, Stunning Displays of Prowess, Skin Hungry, The Other White Meat, Come Find Me and These Walls Can Talk 2: The Narwhal Strikes Back!

Along with writer Bixby Elliot, Erin is the founder and co-curator of The Brooklyn Generator (a playwriting engine that creates "plays in less-than-30-days") and one half of The Theater Husband / Theater Wife Project. Currently, she is partnering with Blackstone Audio to bring Pale Blue Dot(s), an otherworldly piece about an all-female astronaut team (with special appearances by Elon Musk and David Bowie) to audio. Erin lives in a little yellow house on the outskirts of NYC with her husband and Three J's.

Directed by Laura Ekstrand (Livingston), the cast includes Vivid Stage ensemble members Daria M. Sullivan (Montclair), Jason Szamreta (Rahway) and Emaline Williams (Hackettstown) and guests Darin F. Earl II (Union), Stephanie Windland (NYC) and Christopher John Young (Hackettstown).

Soft Animals will appear at Vivid Stage at 120 Morris Avenue in Summit from September 29 through October 9. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Special dates: Thursday, September 29, is a preview performance; all tickets are $25. Sunday, October 2, is Senior Sunday; seniors age 65+ pay $25. Young Professionals night, featuring a craft beer and snacks reception, is on October 6. Talkbacks follow the October 2, 6 and 9 performances.

Tickets range from $25 to $39, with special rates for subscribers and groups. For touchless advance ticket purchases, go to our website. For more information, call 908-514-9654. The theatre at Oakes Center is wheelchair accessible. The parking lot is accessible from Ashwood Avenue, behind the theatre. For information on any of Vivid Stage's programs, please call 908-514-9654, www.vividstage.org.

Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Our work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. We expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. We deepen the experience of all our patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.

The company's activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings and a variety of educational and senior outreach programs.

Vivid Stage's programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Department of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, and many other corporations, foundations and individuals. Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.

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