VITAL SIGNS New Works Festival

Curated by Linda Aims Key, the VITAL SIGNS New Works Festival features the work of established and emerging
playwrights and directors from around the country. Fourteen past productions have gone on to be featured in publications such as Samuel French’s Off Off Broadway Festival Plays collections, Martin Denton’s Plays and Playwrights, as well as scripts published by Playscripts, Inc. and Vintage Press.

Series One: December 2 -5
For two men, the gravitational pull of JUPITER is stronger than either might
have suspected, as written by Scott C. Smith and directed by Andrew
Sheppard. In STRESS TEST, by Pat Pfeiffer and directed by Mahayana
Landowne, a patient’s test checks more than stress. In DEATH COMES FOR THE THERAPIST, by Laura Owen and directed by Jason Chimonides, it’s just another 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? Norma Kline writes and directs
LOCAL POTATOES, in which 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 and 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 moving 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 and 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. NEVER NEVER LAND – penned by NYC writer Laura Rohrman, directed by Habib Azar — is a psycological drama about where grief can take us. When Wendy comes home to her small town for her best friend’s funeral she is forced to deal with unresolved issues or be haunted by them forever. In #9, by Chisa Hutchinson and directed by Christopher Kloko, a white woman has decided to rage against the machine by (what else?) having an affair with a black man. When caught by her husband, 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 and directed by Emily Tetzlaff.

Series Three: December 16 – 19
William Borden’s FALLING, as 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 & the recipient of last year’s Berrilla Kerr Playwriting Award. Gothic mystery and mayhem collide in Ian Finley’s stylish SUSPENSE, directed by David Hilder. JESUS HATES YOU by Robert Shaffron, directed by Paul Adams, explores heterosexual marriage and values, 2004-style. In Samuel French One Act Competition 2004 winner Kellie Overbey’s OVERHEAD, directed by Linda Ames Key, the playwright takes an unflinching look at modern-day morality.