Venus Theatre

Four new works. 

Two world premieres.

March 11 - April 4, 2010

ZELDA AT THE OASIS

Written by P.H. Lin

Directed by Lynn Sharp Spears

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, wife of the noted American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, wants nothing better than to be recognized as an artist in her own right.  Two things stand in her way:  an inherited mental instability, and an overbearing husband.

As the play opens, a thirty-five year old Zelda is in a bar, the Oasis, drinking alone.  Before the night is out, she must decide whether to sign herself back into a sanitarium (the one place where she knows she is free to develop her artistic potential), or to resign herself to her failed marriage with Scott. Through interactions with a Barman, memories are triggered.

As Zelda transforms the Barman into all of the people (male as well as female) who shaped Zelda’s self-image, insights are gained. As a result, both Zelda and the Barman come to understand their lives in new, different ways.

May, 2010

IN THE GOLDFISH BOWL

Written by Kay Rhoads

Directed by Deborah Randall

As their futures tick away, four women on a Texas Death Unit confront their pasts, their fears, and each other, all the while under the “electronic eye” of Correctional Supervisor Rowena Way who simultaneously maintains tight security over each and every plastic fork. Sometimes comedy and sometimes painfully provocative, “In the Goldfish Bowl” explores the justice system through inmates Phylis Penn PhD, Shawna Devine, Sylvia Washington and Cherry Pie Muldoon.  Interspersed, via the prison intercom, are the daily announcements of Lt. Ro.

Will Oprah Winfrey rescue Cherry Pie? Will Shawna Devine get a new trial? Why does Sylvia want to be moved ahead on the death list? And will Phylis Penn come to terms with who she is, what she’s done and in her short time left, recognize how she has changed?

September, 2010

PLAY NICE!

Written by Robin Rice Lichtig

Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

PLAY NICE! has been called a "gothic dream," "a fantasy horror story," and a cross between Grimm's Fairy Tales and Flowers in the Attic by audiences at staged readings in Ohio, New Jersey and New York. The story was inspired by Jean Genet's classic, THE MAIDS, in which role-playing reaches frightening new levels. As PLAY NICE! begins, someone has poisoned the Diamond siblings' mother. When she returns from the hospital, there will be hell to pay The struggle of two sisters and their brother to deal with the Dragon Queen is both highly theatrical and very real. Matilda, the eldest, copes by cooking and forcefully hiding her little sister in order to protect her. Luce, their brother, marches with the high school flag squad -- a fixation which has already put him in hot water. Young Isabel excels at pretend, which becomes the most valuable weapon in their arsenal. They enlist a fourth young person, a homeless poet, and the power of imagination is kicked into high gear. An attic in a New Jersey suburb becomes a battlefield where the lines between generations are blurred and the boundary between the actual and the unreal is reduced to an illuminated rectangle and a box labeled "Mad Rabbit."  (PLAY NICE! was developed with generous input from the following dedicated theater artists in New York: Michele Travis, Nicole Greevy, Katia Anderson, Jennifer Winegartner, Michael Silva, Melissa Doyle.)

October/November, 2010

LOOKING FOR THE PONY

Written by Andrea Lepcio

Directed by Catherine Tripp

Eloisa (Oisie) is finally ready to leave a lifeless career to pursue a long-delayed dream when her sister Lauren is diagnosed with breast cancer.  Lauren’s perfect life and Oisie’s second chance collide as the sisters grab hands and embark on a roller-coaster ride of treatment, ambition, loss, and acceptance.  Myriad other characters are played in quick, and often comic, succession by two other actors.  As funny as it is heart-breaking, This play is a fast-paced journey dedicated to the fierce love of two sisters.

2010 promises the professional production of new works by four AMAZING playwrights.  A percentage of ticket sales go directly to the playwrights.

Jane Horwitz of the Post said we have a "...trademark feminist roar..."

Kim Krisberg of the Blade said  we were "Radically Redefining Beauty"

We'd love to know what you think.  We just want to produce great plays by and with great artists!