September 6th - How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them by Halley Feiffer (3W) -- Left to their own devices by their alcoholic mother, Ada and Sam cultivate an insular world into which they soon draw a third wheel—a pockmarked, limping wallflower named Dorrie. In the years spanning childhood to young adulthood, these three troubled girls learn to lean on each other completely, finding ways to fill each other up and tear each other down. But when a horrible accident upends their reality, they find they must decide whether to continue to foster their codependent cycle, or to break free, with or without each other’s aid.
ADA - ages 10-29; played by one actress. Beautiful, charismatic, alcoholic. Wants to be an actress but her obsession with alcohol holds her backs.
SAM - ages 9-28; played by one actress, Ada’s sister. Less beautiful than Ada; plucky, strong willed, whip-smart. Wants to ba a graphic novelist but her obsession with her sister holds her back.
DORRIE - ages 10-29; played by one actress. Insecure, hugely self-conscious, desperate to give and receive love. Possessed of one of the purest hearts there is. Her sole purpose is her devotion to Ada and Sam.
October 4th - Fool for Love by Sam Shepard (1W, 3M) — The scene is a stark motel room at the edge of the Mojave Desert. May, a disheveled young woman, sits dejectedly on a rumpled bed while Eddie, a rough-spoken rodeo performer, crouches in a corner fiddling with his riding gear. When he attempts to console May, who is distressed by Eddie’s frequent absences and love affairs, she seems, at first, to soften—but then she suddenly attacks him. As the recriminations pour out, and the action becomes at times physically violent, the desperate nature of their relationship becomes apparent—they cannot get along with, or without, one another, yet neither can subdue their burning passion. The poignancy of their situation is pointed out by the play’s two other characters: a hapless young man who stops by to take May to the movies and becomes the butt of Eddie’s funniest yet most humiliating jokes, and a ghostly old man who sits in a rocking chair at the side of the stage, sipping whiskey and commenting wryly on what he observes. Eventually May and Eddie tire of their struggle and embrace—but it is evident that the respite is temporary and that their love, the curse of the past which haunts them, will remain forever damned and hopeless.
Eddie
The play's protagonist. Eddie is a larger than life, multi-dimensional character. He believes in the myths of the idyllic American West, the cowboy as a hero who saves the day, and the American Dream of country living. Eddie habitually entangles himself in volatile romances. His passionate, competitive nature magnifies itself when he drinks and when he relates to his lovers May and "the Countess." Eddie has a strange but complicit relationship with his father, the Old Man character in the play who exists only in May and Eddie's minds.
May
Eddie's lover. Simultaneously strong-willed and vulnerable, May lives alone in a motel room on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert. May is a good match for Eddie in that she can keep up with his verbal gymnastics and power plays. She can make Eddie as jealous as he makes her and she can reject Eddie just as powerfully as he does her. On the flipside, May longs for Eddie just as much as Eddie longs for May.
Old Man
Father of both Eddie and May who only appears in their minds. His surreal contributions to the play add an outsider's commentary with the perspective of an insider. The Old Man was with Eddie's mother for most of Eddie's childhood and simultaneously had a secret relationship with May's mother in another town. Through Shepard's inclusion of the Old Man, we see the extent one person's selfish decisions can affect other people's lives for years to come and the way history may repeat itself or stop a pattern in abusive relationships and in families.
Martin
A simple, innocent, and kind man who lives in a town near May's hotel. Martin is a large man who works maintenance for places around town like the high school stadium. Martin's innocence to sexual affairs and the kind of volatile passion that May and Eddie exhibit before his entrance creates a dream-like quality to his appearance. Martin represents the hopeful, but dull life ahead of May if she chooses to let go of Eddie for good. He is also an unknowing competitor to Eddie. The play ends with Martin looking out of the window at the fiery ball of Eddie's truck.
November 1st- Feminine Ending by Sarah Treem (2W, 3M) — Having recently graduated from a major conservatory, and with a rocker boyfriend on the brink of stardom, aspiring composer Amanda Blue’s “extraordinary life” seems to be all mapped out. But when she’s called home to answer her mother’s distress call about a [marriage in crisis/marital crisis], Amanda’s grand plan starts to unravel. A Feminine Ending is a bittersweet play about dreams deferred, loves lost, and learning to trust a woman’s voice in a man’s world.
AMANDA - Mid 20s, oboist, aspiring composer.
JACK - Mid 20s, singer, up-and-coming pop star.
KIM - Early 50s, Amanda’s mother. Homemaker.
DAVID - Early 50s, Amanda’s father. Insurance salesman.
BILLY - Mid 20s, Postman.
December 6th- Brilliant Traces by Cindy Lou Johnson (1W, 1M) — The place is a remote cabin in the wilds of Alaska. As a blizzard rages outside, a lonely figure, Henry Harry, lies sleeping under a heap of blankets. Suddenly, he is awakened by the insistent knocking of an unexpected visitor—who turns out to be Rosannah DeLuce, a distraught young woman who has fled all the way from Arizona to escape her impending marriage, and who bursts into the cabin dressed in full bridal regalia. Exhausted, she throws herself on Henry’s mercy, but after sleeping for two days straight, her vigor—and combativeness—return. Both characters, it develops, have been wounded and embittered by life, and both are refugees from so-called civilization. Thrown together in the confines of the snowbound cabin, they alternately repel and attract each other as, in theatrically vivid exchanges, they explore the pain of the past and, in time, consider the possibilities of the present. In the end their very isolation proves to be the catalyst that allows them to break through the web of old griefs and bitter feelings that beset them both and to reach out for the solace and sanctuary that only hard-won understanding, self-awareness and compassion for the plight of others can bestow.
January 3rd - Proof by David Auburn (2W, 2M) — On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father’s madness—or genius—will she inherit?
Catherine – A young woman, 25 years old, who inherited much of her father's mathematical genius and, she fears, his "instability" as well; she gave up her life and schooling to take care of her father until his recent death.
Claire – Catherine's older sister, a practical and business-minded woman who has been comfortably successful in her work and relationships. She left Robert and Catherine behind, distancing herself from the run-down family home of her youth. She left the family to make a new life for herself in New York City.
Robert – A recently deceased mathematician praised for his groundbreaking work in his youth, but whose later years were plagued by delusional mental illness; he is seen in Catherine's imagination and in flashbacks.
Harold (Hal) Dobbs – One of Robert's last Ph.D. students during the one year his idol and mentor's illness went into remission, at least enabling Robert to teach, if not continue his own creative mathematical work.
February 7th - Venus in Fur by David Ives (1W, 1M) — Thomas, a beleaguered playwright/director, is desperate to find an actress to play Vanda, the female lead in his adaptation of the classic sadomasochistic tale Venus in Fur. Into his empty 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 Thomas’ interest with her seductive talents and secretive manner. As the two work through the script, they blur the line between play and reality, entering into an increasingly serious game of submission and domination that only one of them can win. A mysterious, funny, erotic drama that represents yet another departure for the multifaceted David Ives.
Vanda Jordan/Vanda von Dunayev (20s-40s) – Vanda is an enigma; we are never quite sure who she is. Initially she comes across as a poor fit for the grind of Broadway; she’s clumsy in her introduction, seems genuinely unaware of how to put her best foot forward. Earnestness mixed with brashness means she conveys a willingness to do whatever is necessary to win over Thomas (she removes most of her clothing within the first 5 pages). And yet, Vanda utterly transforms in a way that suggests she knows Thomas’ play better than he does. While Thomas is the in the driver’s seat of the Providence Players of Fairfax audition, Vanda’s character is the comedic and impactful engine of Venus in Fur as she transforms over and over, from hapless actress to skilled dominatrix, to the Goddess of femininity Herself.
Thomas Novachek/Severin Kushemski (20s-40s) – Thomas is the archetype for how we imagine most writer/directors: self-assured, narcissistic, impatient, male. It is also unclear whether his high opinion of himself or his play are remotely justified. If it wasn’t so comical, it would provoke outrage. We are introduced to these traits early and often as he complains to his significant other on the phone or attempts to steer Vanda out of the room. However, once his counterpart gets the chance to read, Thomas ends up in an unsettled position. What is it like to finally capture your personal white whale? He finds himself increasingly compromised as he plays his part as Kushemski, and perhaps even welcoming as Vanda strips (pun intended) away all of the power given by his maleness and cultural position.
March 7th - Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Stanley (1W, 1M) — The setting is a rundown bar in the Bronx, where two of society’s rejects, Danny and Roberta, strike up a halting conversation over their beer. He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence than reason; she is a divorced, guilt-ridden young woman whose troubled teenage son is now being cared for by her parents. Danny, whose fellow truck drivers call him “the animal,” seems incapable of tender emotion, while Roberta, who is still haunted by the memory of an ugly sexual incident involving her father, is distrustful of men in general. And yet, as their initial reserve begins to melt, and they decide to spend the night together, the possibility of a genuine and meaningful relationship begins to emerge—the first for both of them. In the end there are no facile, easy answers, but thanks to the playwright’s skill and compassion, both characters are able to probe within themselves to find an exorcism and forgiveness that, while painfully achieved, offers the hope of a future touched, at last, with more than the bitterness and loneliness that had been their lot before their fateful meeting.
April 4th- The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno (2W, 2M) — In The Realistic Joneses, we meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors, John and Pony, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and their shared last names. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities.
May 2nd - Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo (3W, 1M) — After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs—the prize being Gwen’s husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.
June 6th - StopKiss by Diana Son (3w, 3M) — “A poignant and funny play about the ways, both sudden and slow, that lives can change irrevocably,” says Variety. After Callie meets Sara, the two unexpectedly fall in love. Their first kiss provokes a violent attack that transforms their lives in a way they could never anticipate.
July 4th - Trust by Paul Weitz (2W, 2M) — Harry is rich. Harry is married. But when Harry doesn’t trust that any of it is enough, he looks to find something real in the most unlikely of places. This dark comedy explores the corrosive effect of power on relationships and the hope we need to make them better.
August 1st - Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber (2W, 2M) — Elizabeth is about to finish her dissertation. She is very much in love with her girlfriend and their life together. But then her brother and his best friend show up—they are on the run. Their arrival forces Elizabeth to confront her past and finally make a choice about the kind of person she wants to be. A waking nightmare in which fears and memories become actual and the psychological becomes all too real.