Vital Signs 2003

Vital Theatre Company presents its 8th installment of Vital Signs, the company’s semi-annual festival of new works.

Week 1 ~ October 30th – November 2nd

“PROGRESS,” from Michigan writer, AL SJOERDSMA, uses the Old West to slyly show us what we care about and what we all discard; directed by JEFF GRIFFIN.
“ON THE EDGE,” by the NYC writer CRAIG POSPISIL, is a piece about a teenager contemplating suicide to prove his love and the smart-aleck young woman who just may change his mind; directed by TOM ROWAN.
“WORLD’S LONGEST KISS” is a dark comedy by NY writer PETER MORRIS about a woman who will achieve fame at any cost and the two men
who she unwittingly involves in her plan; directed by MICHAEL SCHEMAN.
“GLADIATORS OR KAMIKAZES” is a comic and sweet work that centers around two middle aged friends discussing the men they think they are and the women they believe they can have, written by PETER HARDY of Atlanta; directed by RANDY BARUH.
“THE RECIPE” is dramatic piece about an older woman and her son’s fiancé’s collision over marriage, commitment and the lies we tell ourselves and each other to make them work, by the NYC writer D. LEE MILLER; directed by KEN LOWSTETTER.
“THE GALLERY” is a revealing look at two lonely middle-aged people who discover new possibilities during a museum encounter, written by the NYC-area author LORETTA NOVICK; directed by CYNTHIA A. THOMAS.
“ARMS & THE MAN” is a comic work by Ohio playwright ERIC R.
PFEFFINGER in which a young couple takes their willingness to please one
another to surprising lengths; directed by DAVID HILDER.

Week 2 ~ November 6th – 9th

“AN ACTOR PREPARES” is a tongue-in-cheek story by Chicago playwright MARK YOUNG of a now famous actor who takes his former employer to breakfast; directed by ARI KREITH.
“FIRST ONE DOWN” looks at the relationship of three long-standing friends and their differing views of their marriages, penned by NYC playwright BLAIR SINGER; directed by JESSE BERGER.
“YOUNG SISTAS,” by NYC writer LORNA LITTLEWAY, gives us a glimpse
at the lives of three young African American women and their relationships
with men past, present and future; directed by SUE LAWLESS.
In “MY WIFE’S COAT,” what starts out as comedy turns brutally honest in NYC writer KELLIE OVERBEY’s play about love, marriage and infidelity, directed by LINDA AMES KEY.
“ONE SUNDAY MORNING,” created by Miami playwright DENNIS JONES, is a
comic piece about an adult son who receives a very unexpected visit from his opinionated parents, directed by MARK HAYES.

Week 3 ~ November 13th – 16th.

“DAR AND BARB,” by New York author CATHERINE ALLEN, looks at the tumultuous and hilarious relationship of a strong-minded mother and her beleaguered daughter; directed by EMILY TETZLAFF.
“BLISS,” a wistful piece by NYC writer STEFANIE ZADRAVEC, takes us inside the mind of an older woman as she relives her glorious wedding day; directed by GEORGI CERRUTI.
“MEDUSA,” by STEVEN CHRISTOPHER YOCKEY of Atlanta, looks at a
young woman making a momentous decision that will alter her life, and that
of her loves, forever; directed by BOB CLINE.
“PLASTIC” is a brutally comic work by New Jersey author ROBERT SHAFFRON, that looks at the male modeling profession and the lengths people will go to for beauty; directed by MARY CATHERINE BURKE.
“MILK IN CHINA,” by Chicago playwright LISA ROSENTHAL, is an interwoven story exploring each man’s unique journey on the road to fatherhood; directed by DEREK JAMISON.
“SUPERHERO” is a comic work by LA playwright MARK HARVEY LEVINE about a guy who thinks he’s a Superhero and the woman who lives across the hall; directed by GREGORY THORSON.

Week 4 ~ November 20th – 23rd

“A FAMILY MANUAL FOR KWANZAA,” penned by young NYC playwright AURIN SQUIRE, takes a surreal and comic look at the disintegration of a family over the six days of Kwanzaa; directed by KIM KEFGEN.
“THE KEEPSAKE” is a disturbing play from young Londoner ANDREW
MCCALDON, concerning two young people who seemingly meet by chance, but we find their relationship is much deeper, much less coincidental, and much more criminal; directed by CLAIRE M. HEWITT.
“URSA MINOR” is a humorous peek, by NYC area playwright GARY GIOVANNETTI, into a bachelor party and the different views of marriage that each of the celebrants hold; directed by ERIC PARNESS.
“HIJAB,” written by MONICA RAYMOND of Cambridge, Massachusetts, looks at a Jewish single mother and her teenage daughter, who is wearing a Muslim women’s head scarf to high school; directed by MAHAYANA
LANDOWNE.
“NATURAL HISTORY” is a piece about two lonely misfits who are taken with each other at the Natural History Museum, penned by NYC writer
JENNIFER CAMP; directed by ANTON DUDLEY.