WEEK #1 - Oct.12th to Oct.15th
Road Smoke By Phil Schmiedl. Directed by David Frydrychowski.
With Tessa Keimes, Todd Kovner and Peter Moore.

Decomposition By Dennis Schebetta. Directed by Mark Rowan.
With Sarah Hemings Browne and Ato Essandoh.

Rural Play By Brent Askari. Directed by Laura Stevens.
With Geraldine Bartlett, Jeff Dawson, Robert Lehrer,
Felicia Scarangello and Jonathan Smit.

WEEK #2 - Oct. 19th to Oct. 22nd
Power Hungry By Gary Giovannetti. Directed by Sharon Fallon.
With Richard G. Cottrell and Cliff James.

Rural Play By Brent Askari. Directed by Laura Stevens.
With Geraldine Bartlett, Jeff Dawson, Robert Lehrer,
Felicia Scarangello and Jonathan Smit.

Maureen By Will Ryman. Directed by Heidi Shurak.
With Eugenie Bagur, William Cook, Jennifer True,
and Stefanie Zadravec.

WEEK #3 - Oct. 26th to Oct. 29th
Just One Maggie By Deborah Medwin. Directed by Heather de Michele.
With Jamie Marrs, Heather Moss and Laura Stevens.

The Queue By Stephen Bittrich. Directed by Scott C. Embler.
With Terry Maratos and Nathan White.

Stripping Diamonds By Dennis Schebetta. Directed by Martin Miller.
from the Dog Soul With Glynn Burgess and Jennifer Ronald.

Buried Alive By David Folwell. Directed by Bruce Merrill.
With Ato Essandoh.

WEEK #4 -Nov. 2nd to Nov. 5th
Afraid of Heights By David Folwell. Directed by Brandi J. Smith.
With Michael Dufault and Jens Rasmussen.

The Encounter By Will Ryman. Directed by Maryna Harrison.
With Jeff Dawson and Alex Hansen.

Glitch By Jim Doyle. Directed by Heidi Shurak.
With Terry Maratos, Michael Morisi and Felicia Scarangello.

Call and Dash By Doug Held. Directed by Ovi Vargas.
With Michael Brandt, Will Erat, Sam Hurlbut and Ted Rodenborn.

Heart Problems By Catherine Gillet. Directed by Roberta Wells-Famula.
With Tracy Lee Bell and Mary Coburn.

WEEK #5 - Nov. 9th to Nov. 12th
Lunch with Jack By Steven Fechter. Directed by Sharon Fallon.
With C. Kavanagh Harris, Tracy Newirth
and Michael Lombardi.

Prodigals By Cheryldee Huddleston. Directed by David Frydrychowski. With Ted Rodenborn and Brandi J. Smith.

Rites of Passage By Michael Aman and Tony Rust. Directed by Ovi Vargas. With Bill Hilkert, Todd Kovner and Joe Vivani.

Triple Threat By David Folwell. Directed by Brendan T. Deneen.
With John Jordan and Mike Skloot.

WEEK #6 - Nov. 16th to Nov. 19th
Day By Melody Cooper. Directed by Scott C. Embler.
With Rob Dodd and Nick Mennell.

Sukie Smiles By Brent Askari. Directed by Justin Schuster.

Requiem for Albert By D.T. Arcieri. Directed by Victor Maog.
With Michael Anderson, Polly Humphreys, Melissa Kemlitz, Lisa Kerekes and James Lurie.

Reviews

Vital Signs: A Six-Week Festival of New Works Week #2

Review by Julie Halpern

Theatregoers who could drag themselves away from the Subway Series were treated to a delightfully racy evening of high-energy fun, courtesy of three talented emerging playwrights and Vital Theatre's engaging ensemble. The evening sped by thanks to the taut, fast-paced direction of all three shows.

Maureen by Will Ryman (directed by Heidi Shurak) reveals the romantic dreams of a lonely woman who creates a fantasy life around meeting the perfect man. Her reverie is constantly interrupted by two warring alter-egos, one of which eggs her on in her quest for romance, the other reminding her of what jerks all men are. Her handsome suitor arrives with flowers, loves her cooking, and is in essence every woman's dream come true. A jolt of reality comes when an irate neighbor pounds on the door complaining about the noise, and Maureen realizes she dreamed the whole thing. Eugenie Bagur was a lovely, sympathetic Maureen; William Cook was a handsome, engaging Michael, the dream man; and Stefanie Zadravec, as A, and Jennifer True, as B, were funny and poignant as a post-modern equivalent of a Greek chorus.

Just in time for the election, Power Hungry by Gary Giovanetti (directed by Sharon Fallon) chronicles the presidential campaign of Senator Phillips, an affable, good ol' boy politico who seems poised for success. Phillips has hired a young campaign manager named Glen to help him put a positive spin on an unusual problem. Phillips is a cannibal: he has eaten a number of his political adversaries¯indeed, he has a preference for overweight white men. Even the jaded Glen is appalled at Phillips's revelations and is torn between revulsion and a desire to be at the helm of a winning campaign. Richard G. Cottrell created a winning portrait of a charming political animal constantly amused about the fuss the press is making about his problem. Cliff James's self-important yuppie Glen was a scream, particularly in his efforts to avoid becoming Phillips's next meal.

In Rural Play by Brent Askari, directed by Laura Stevens, a farm family attempts to persevere amidst physical hardships, emotional dysfunction, and just plain stupidity. When their farm is destroyed by a tornado, Jeb Jones and his family vow to rebuild. Their plight gets even worse when Zebulon Ricketts, the elderly codger who owns the land, threatens to confiscate the property if the Joneses don't come up with $10,000 within six months. Jeb's wife Elma takes charge of the situation, and unbeknownst to her husband starts a successful gun-running business, which quickly brings in the needed cash. When Jeb learns the unsavory source of the money, he burns it. Meanwhile, daughter Eppie Sue has gotten pregnant, and son Zeke has become a transvestite. The final blow comes as Ricketts reveals that Jeb and Elma are actually brother and sister.

Jonathan Smit's country bumpkin Jeb was a comic gem; Felicia Scarangello's skill at physical comedy added an extra dimension to her excellent work as the wide-eyed, knocked-up Eppie Sue; Jeff Dawson's Zeke was a hairy-legged charmer in his sequined gown; Robert Lehrer's Ricketts was an outrageously creepy old curmudgeon; and Geraldine Bartlett contributed the strongest performance as the beleaguered but resourceful Elma.

David Frydrychowski's simple, flattering lights, and the simple sets and costumes (uncredited), created an easy, inviting ambience.

Box Score:
Writing: 2
Directing: 2
Acting: 2
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 1
Copyright 2000 Julie Halpern

Review by Adrienne Onofri

The fourth weekend in Vital Theatre Company's six-week showcase of previously unproduced short plays featured The Encounter by Will Ryman, Heart Problems by Catherine Gillet, David Folwell's Afraid of Heights, Glitch by Jim Doyle, and Doug Held's Call and Dash. (That's the order in which they were performed, but not the order in which they were listed in the program. Furthermore, the cast lists did not identify the actors by their roles, so audience members had to scan the bios-which included every performer in the festival-to find out who was playing whom. )

Housekeeping details aside, the program had two good plays, Heart Problems and Afraid of Heights, which happen to be thematically similar: two strangers meet; one is high-spirited, the other dejected; the former sets the latter straight on the "meaning of life." In Heart Problems, the two strangers are seatmates on a transcontinental flight. The younger woman is taking a solo ski vacation and getting over a breakup; the older woman shows her the bright side via a manicure and a succession of one-liners. Playwright Gillet shows she knows her way around a zinger: a character proclaims that "career outdoor" types like ski instructors are just "very healthy homeless people" and calls stores such as IKEA and Bed, Bath & Beyond "theme-park superstores." The play, directed by Roberta Wells-Famula, is self-consciously glib but was redeemingly entertaining - thanks to the perfect pairing of Tracy Lee Bell and Mary Coburn. Bell was loopy yet sympathetic; Coburn aced her repartee.

In the Brandi J. Smith-directed Afraid of Heights, Anthony (Jens Rasmussen), a young man clothed in shorts and tank top, spreads his cheer to a suit-and-overcoat-wearing guy (Michael Dufault) sharing a bench on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The hook here is a plot twist: while the uptight guy and the audience are led to believe that Anthony is a mental patient, it turns out he's an AIDS patient who is joyfully asymptomatic because of his protease inhibitors. This could be considered the third wave of AIDS plays-the first being pleas for tolerance, the second pleas for a cure, and this one a celebration of survival. This is the first to be heard onstage about "victory" over the epidemic-and the play's commendable for that timely precedence. Otherwise, it's not great, but promising enough.

As for the rest of the program: The Encounter, directed by Maryna Harrison, is too low-key to inspire much feeling. Discussing a possible UFO sighting with a friend, Ed (Alex Hansen) decides his vision was actually his deceased mother looking down on him-a nice idea, but with no sense of place (another thing missing from the program: the plays' settings) and no background or personality development for the characters, it doesn't mean much.

Glitch, directed by Heidi Shurak, is a one-joke sketch about a high-tech car, with Felicia Scarangello playing almost the same (male) role that she did in last summer's Icons & Outcasts. The last play of the evening, directed by Ovi Vargas, was the uninteresting Call and Dash, in which a quartet of overgrown frat boys pull a prank at the local zoo. It's overheated and under-funny.

(Also featuring Jeff Dawson, Michael Morisi, Terry Maratos, Michael Brandt, Will Erat, Sam Hurlbut and Ted Rodenborn)

Box Score:
Writing: 1
Directing: 1
Acting: 1
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 1
Copyright 2000 Adrienne Onofri

Vital Signs Week #4

Productions like Vital Signs are the reason my job is so much fun: they provide the thrill of discovery of exciting new work and gifted new talent. Vital Theatre Company, just a couple of years old, has mounted this six-week festival of new work with impressive care. They're showcasing seventeen playwrights, eighteen directors, and about sixty actors. On the basis of Week 4, which I just saw (and selected more or less at random), these artists deserve the attention.

The five playwrights represented, for example, are all smart and skillful. Two of the pieces--Will Ryman's The Encounter and Doug Held's Call and Dash--felt more like short stories than plays to me, but thematically and structurally they more than hold their own. The others are quite fine: Heart Problems, by Catherine Gillet, is an entertaining and clever short comedy about an anxious young woman who meets a stranger on an airplane who helps her understand why life is worth living. Afraid of Heights, by David Folwell, tackles a similar theme in a more earthbound setting; it's actually too short: I'd love to see the author expand this is into a full one-act piece.

Jim Doyle's Glitch is a perfect little gift of a comedy, with a neatly original hook: a man falls in love with a car--and the car reciprocates. You'll have to see it to find out what I mean, but believe me, it's delightful.

All the plays have been worthily directed. They're also uniformly well-acted, but I need to single out a few players who are especially good: Mary Coburn, instantly recognizable (and likable) as the caring stranger in Heart Problems; Jens Rasmussen, finding the correct mix of pixilated lunacy and pathos as an exuberant oddball in Afraid of Heights; and Terry Maratos, suavely, seductively perfect as the spirit of a used car in Glitch.

The lineup of five plays reviewed here runs only through November 5, but two different programs follow, for a week apiece. I'm absolutely certain they'll be worth checking out. (reviewed on November 2, 2000)