VITAL THEATRE COMPANY is pleased to present its ninth installment of VITAL SIGNS, the company's annual new works festival. The three-part series begins Wednesday, December 2nd at 7:00 p.m. Each series runs 1 week - Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:00 p.m. - through December 19th. All tickets are $15.00. $10.00 for students. TDF Accepted. For reservations, please log onto www.theatremania.com or call (212) 352-3101. For more information visit www.vitaltheatre.org Vital Theatre Company is located at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre above the Promenade, 2162 Broadway, 4th Floor at 76th Street.

Series One: December 2-5

For two men, the gravitational pull of JUPITER is stronger than either might have suspected. Written by SCOTT C. SMITH, directed by ANDREW SHEPPARD. In STRESS TEST by PAT PFEIFFER, directed by MAHAYANA LANDOWNE a patient finds a simple test has gone awry. In DEATH COMES FOR THE THERAPIST by LAURA OWEN, directed by JASON CHIMONIDES, it starts out like any other day for a busy and caring therapist -- until a young woman appears in her office claiming to be the Angel of Death. Is this really it -- or can the problem be solved with a little therapy? In LOCAL POTATOES written and directed by NORMAN KLINE, a young carpenter gets more than he bargained for when he asks a farmer why he wants to sell the car on his front lawn. DRIVING SCHOOL OF AMERICA by DANIEL BRENNER, directed by JOANNA LUKS tries to find out what a Chinese scientist and a Dominican ex-seminary student have in common.

Series Two: December 9-12

Thriller, the Pepsi fire, cocaine cowboys, and a white family move into a black neighborhood. It's 1984 in Miami and life is about to get a whole lot more confusing for a group of kids who want to be MJ in DEFACING MICHAEL JACKSON by AURIN SQUIRE, directed by DENYSE OWENS. In MINA by KYOUNG H. PARK, directed by C.S. LEE, a young Korean woman raised in Lima, Peru, falls in love with a Peruvian-Japanese man, only to ignite intolerant rage which dates back to the conquest of the Incan empire. Mom and Dad fall in love and out of love in 20 minutes and every word of it is true in TRUE LOVE STORY OF MY PARENTS by ELIZABETH MERIWEATHER, directed by SHIRA MILIKOWSKY. Those lost boys will never be the same in NEVER NEVER LAND by LAURA ROHRMAN, directed by HABIB AZAR. #9 by CHISA HUTCHINSON, directed by CHRISTOPHER KLOKO tells the story of Lillian, a white woman who has decided to rage against the machine by (what else?) having an affair with a black man. When her husband catches her in the act, she presents him with a rather bizarre solution to their socio-sexual problems. An unseen danger lurks in the darkness in COYOTES by CATHERINE GILLET, directed by EMILY TETZLAFF.

Series Three: December 16 - 19

FALLING by WILLIAM BORDEN, directed by AIMEE HAYES imagines the thoughts of two, and for a moment three, of the people who were forced to jump from the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001. Dark fun in hell is had in JUICE, written and directed by JANE SHEPARD, this year's winner of the Robert Chesley Playwriting Prize & last year's recipient of The Berrilla Kerr Playwriting Award. Mystery ensues in SUSPENSE by IAN FINLEY, directed by DAVID HILDER. JESUS HATES YOU by ROBERT SHAFFRON, directed by PAUL ADAMS takes a look at religion in America. OVERHEAD by KELLIE OVERBEY directed by LINDA AMES KEY takes an unflinching look at modern day morality.

Now in its seventh season, VITAL THEATRE COMPANY programs include the VITAL MAIN STAGE, VITAL SIGNS New Works Festival which has seen 14 new short plays go on to publication, VITAL CHILDREN’S THEATRE which commissions and presents new plays with music for young audiences, performed by adults, VITAL VOICES Education Outreach and VITAL DIRECTIONS. Vital Theatre Company is a six-time winner of the Off-Off Broadway Review’s Award for Excellence and was also named 2002 Theatre Company of the Year from The New York Theatre Experience. For more information, please visit www.vitaltheatre.org.