Control Top
CONTROL TOP features an ensemble of five women who reflect on their lifetime experiences with clothing. In funny and poignant conversations, they reveal what lies beneath the very fabric of their lives.
From lack of pockets to varying opinions on pantyhose ~ gendered t-shirts ~ dress codes ~ not-so-miracle bathing suits and training bras (and what exactly is being trained?), the women share, empathize and strategize how to move forward.
CONTROL TOP was inspired by Abby Wambach’s quote, “Wear what you want. Love who you love. Become what you imagine.” Vasta Folley says, “Wambach’s words are a rousing declaration and an invocation to recognize control - both blatant and hidden, ” adding, “How else to ‘wear what you want’ than to first understand what you wore and why?”
CONTROL TOP was created with the support of the Vermont Arts Council, the Vermont Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Visit control-top.com for more information.
Borrowing Time
The Friends of the Stamwick Public Library hold one disastrous fundraiser after another trying to save their beloved town library. Meanwhile their leader and friend, Lillian, deals with her own crisis and her adult daughter who returns home to help. Loaded with laughs, a ton a heart and sea shanty or two, BORROWING TIME, written during the pandemic, is an ode to the euphonic joy of community and the power of belonging.
The Sleepover ~ A Comedy of Marriage
Life coach Susie and her husband, psychotherapist Mark, hold their first-ever couples counseling retreat at a run-down ski lodge. Susie fumes at the sub-par conditions as five couples arrive in various states of marital mess - from self-help-seminar junkies to newlyweds who’ve yet to consummate. When one of the clients learns his wife was previously engaged to the seminar leader, things get worse. Stranded, the couples spend the night sharing rooms and bunk beds. Through therapeutic games that involve blindfolds, insult and injury, each couple ends up learning something in the midst of this hilariously disastrous retreat.
Lunch Money
Marilyn hires her handful-of-a-sister Jackie to work at the school cafeterias she manages. Their comfortably-combative relationship explodes as they're both charged with embezzlement. Meanwhile Charlie has rented a room from Marilyn. She’s an unusual tenant as all of the other boarders are senior citizens who also work in the cafeterias. Charlie secretly believes Marilyn is her birth mother.
Lunch Money is about three heavy-hearted women searching for solid ground. To find it, they have to learn to reveal themselves so they can finally see each other.
As part of the playwright's mission, Lunch Money features strong dramatic and comedic roles for older women.
The Family of EWE
Described as “an ode to the bonds of female friendship,” THE FAMILY OF EWE is a play about women, who despite their individual imperfections and challenges, choose to stand by each other and up to each other when needed. It is the story of women who create their own family.
THE FAMILY OF EWE began as a mission to write roles for women of all ages, as well as to tell a story about unconventional family. The playwright was inspired by Abraham Verghese's description of home as “not where you are from, but where you are wanted.”
Vasta Folley writes, “The women in THE FAMILY OF EWE taught me that there are people who naturally create family and others who are blind to the possibility of belonging. But those who understand it offer harbor for everyone. And women, the nurturers that we are, have a gift for creating family on purpose.”
The Seymour Sisters
Two estranged sisters, Eleanor and Cecile, meet to sort through their deceased parents’ belonging. As each box is opened, so too is their past trauma. As the sisters find their way back to each other, they must face not only themselves, but the wounds they’ve kept hidden for decades. A touching, provocative, and often funny look at family, THE SEYMOUR SISTERS ask what, if anything, we owe our adult sibling relationships.
Pronouncing Glenn
A comedic romp with a giant heart, PRONOUNCING GLENN looks at life and death through the lens of an unconventional family.
Caregiver Millie goes to crazy lengths to hide a body - with only the best of intentions. As all her elaborate ruses and schemes come undone, she and others must face the loss and each other.
Alumni Pie
ALUMNI PIE is a comedy about reunion and second chances. A group of friends, called “The Magnificent Seven Eight” in college, reunite after decades apart. Each arrives with their own agenda at Lena’s eccentric guest house to reminisce and reconnect. From reviving traditions to modeling bras, the old gang find a renewed bond through laughter and tears.
Reviewed as, “"A crowd-pleasing two hours of theater. The characters in ‘Alumni Pie’ are reunited, and it feels so good."