Our 2024 Season

By Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Indecent and How I Learned To Drive

When Anna, an unmarried schoolteacher, is diagnosed with a new malady with a high risk factor for elementary school teachers, she and her brother Carl take flight to Europe. While Anna drowns herself in the sensuality of food and romance Carl becomes involved in a wild Third Mannish espionage scheme to find a cure for his sister. When their European trip becomes increasingly odd, Anna realizes something is not quite right.

Director: Patrick Barry

Cast: Sarah Paprocki (Anna), Paul Donovan-Lietz (Carl), and Eric Michaelian (The Third Man)

Stage Manager: Joy Shih

By Sam Shepard, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Buried Child and Fool for Love

A brilliantly provocative satire featuring Frank and Emma, a quiet, respectable couple who raise cows on their Wisconsin farm. Soon after they agree to put up Frank's old friend, Haynes, who is on the lam from a secret government project involving plutonium, they're visited by Welch, a government bureaucrat, his aggressive patriotism puts Frank, Emma and Haynes on the defensive, transforming a heartland American household into a scene of promoting a radioactive brand of conformity.

Director: Ed Wilhelms

Cast: Brian Cunningham (Frank), Debi Freund (Emma), John Elsenbeck (Haynes), and Steve Spartano (Welch)

By Alan Ball, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of American Beauty and creator of the hit television series Six Feet Under

During an ostentatious wedding reception at a Knoxville, Tennessee estate, five reluctant bridesmaids hide out in an upstairs bedroom, each with their own reason to avoid the proceedings below. They are Francis, a painfully sweet but sheltered fundamentalist; Mindy, the cheerful wise-cracking lesbian sister of the groom; Georgeanne, whose heartbreak over her own failed marriage triggers outrageous behavior; Meredith, the bride's younger sister whose precocious rebelliousness masks a dark secret, and Tricia, a jaded beauty who is a die-hard cynic when it comes to men. As the afternoon wears on, these five very different women joyously discover a common bond in this wickedly funny, irreverent and touching celebration of the women's spirit.

Director: Joel Stedman

Cast: Jessica Chan, Holly DeMorrow, Dorian Mendez, Jennifer Nadeau, and Katherine Scalaro

By Lee Blessing

One room is bare and is somewhere in Beirut, Lebanon, where an American, Michael, is being held hostage by Arab terrorists. The other is in the United States which his wife Lainie has stripped of furniture so that, symbolically, she can somewhat share his ordeal. Lainie is visited by Ellen, a cool-headed almost detached professional from the State Department who keeps Lainie informed of any progress while trying to get her to see the "bigger picture." Walker, a reporter, is trying to get Lainie to give him a story or to get her to do an interview on TV to help put pressure on the Government to get Michael released. Imaginary conversations between Michael and Lainie give each other hope.

Director: Ed Wilhelms

Cast: Emily Yates (Lainie), Tristan Cole (Michael), Frank DiCaro (Walker), and Alicia James (Ellen)

By David Ives

Thomas, a beleaguered playwright/director, is desperate to find an actress to play Vanda, the female lead in his adaptation of the classic tale Venus in Fur. Into his audition room walks a vulgar and equally desperate actress---oddly enough named Vanda. Though utterly wrong for the sophisticated part, Vanda exhibits a strange command of the material piquing his interest in her seductive talents and secretive manner. As the two work through the script, they blur the line between play and reality in this mysterious, funny, erotic play. 

Director: Patrick Barry

Cast: Eric Michaelian and Chloe Parrington

In partnership with Shoreline Playwrights, we offer a weekend of performances featuring two new plays by Teresa Mella Fogel and Laura Thoma centered on the theme of "Fractured Resilience."

Community Service

A teenage girl is sentenced to 5 weeks of community service in a nursing home for her petty crime. Paired with a cantankerous old woman the two find commonality in their dark view of the world.

Meet Me in the Lobby

While staying at the Savoy, Flossy Henshaw finds a museum whose guide seems to hold the keys to her past, present, and future. Something about one of the paintings and that small statue connects her to another time, place, and a very special person. If only she could remember who?