Fall Forward Festival
During the pandemic shutdown, the Vineyard commissioned five daring artists to create new works of alternative theatre. Over the year, these projects — as varied as the artists creating them — were seeded and grew, and now, we can’t wait to share them with you. Vineyard Theatre’s FALL FORWARD FESTIVAL will feature a mix of […]
During the pandemic shutdown, the Vineyard commissioned five daring artists to create new works of alternative theatre. Over the year, these projects — as varied as the artists creating them — were seeded and grew, and now, we can’t wait to share them with you. Vineyard Theatre’s FALL FORWARD FESTIVAL will feature a mix of live-in person, live virtual, filmed, and audio performances, some fully realized and some in process. Join us to experience five different ways artists are leaping into the future.
The FALL FORWARD FESTIVAL includes Kirsten Childs’ Aunt Lillian, a wickedly funny audio musical about a battle of wills between two young girls and their no-nonsense aunt, directed by Awoye Timpo (audio musical); Ngozi Anyanwu’s Maybe Dorothy Was Right, a short film and love letter to New York and the theatre, directed by Alfonso Johnson (short film); Jared Mezzocchi ‘s On the Beauty of Loss (live/virtual), an introspective multimedia performance exploring the emergence of social technology and its impact on memory and grief; Polly Pen’s 56 Flowers, a chamber musical about a receptionist who finds herself drawn to the story of the 19th century composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond (live reading in person); and Madeline Sayet’s The Fish, a new full-length play following two Mohegan-Jewish siblings on a search to find out what their ancestors never meant for them to know (live reading in person)
Become a Vineyard Member to get exclusive discounts and access to each of the Fall Forward Festival events!
Aunt Lillian
By Kirsten Childs
Directed by Awoye Timpo
Audio Musical
Available October 4–December 31
Listen Today!
Please note that you will need to sign in using your Vineyard Login. If you need to create a login or forgot your password, please click here.
From Obie Award-winning composer Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl…, The Vineyard’s Miracle Brothers), this wickedly funny and captivating audio musical delves into a story from her own childhood. When Aunt Lillian travels from North Carolina to Los Angeles to help care for Kirsten and her siblings, a battle of wills begins.
Maybe Dorothy Was Right
By Ngozi Anyanwu
Directed by Alfonso Johnson
A Short Film
Available October 7–December 31
Watch today!
Please note that you will need to sign in using your Vineyard Login. If you need to create a login or forgot your password, please click here.
Playwright and actress Ngozi Anyanwu (GOOD GRIEF) takes us to the neighborhoods and theatres that have been part of her NYC journey, in this short film made in collaboration with filmmaker Alfonso Johnson.
Vineyard Members are invited to attend a live chat with Maybe Dorothy Was Right writer/performer Ngozi Anyanwu, director Alfonso Johnson, and Vineyard Theatre Artistic Director Sarah Stern on November 1 at 7pm (1 hour event). Members will receive an email invitation.
On The Beauty Of Loss
Created by Jared Mezzocchi
Original composition by Lee Kinney
Live Streaming Performance
November 11 – November 21, 2021
Member booking begins October 19.
General booking begins October 27.
On The Beauty of Loss is an introspective live digitally-original multimedia performance that explores how the emergence of social technology has shifted the ways humans collect memories and comprehend grief. This journey explores the loss of two family members, a father passing before the invention of the iPhone, and a grandfather reaching the end of his life 16 years later, in the peak of the pandemic. Our journey places the audience in a car, traveling hundreds of miles… and challenges the live virtual performance space to be as live as it has ever been.
56 Flowers
By Polly Pen
Directed by Dustin Wills
In-Person Reading
October 24 at 3pm & October 25 at 7pm
In this new online musical, a receptionist at a small animal hospital finds herself drawn to the story of Carrie Jacobs-Bond, a relentlessly cheerful yet obstacle-prone early 20th century composer, whose heart-filled songs brought her fame and fortune. A searching and comic look at how we fill our time, from Obie Award-winning composer Polly Pen.
In-person readings of 56 Flowers and The Fish have limited availability and will be invitation-only events. To express your interest in attending one or both readings, please fill out this form.
The Fish
By Madeline Sayet
In-Person Reading
December 2021
A new full-length play following two Mohegan-Jewish siblings on a search to find out what their ancestors never meant for them to know (live reading in person).
In-person readings of 56 Flowers and The Fish have limited availability and will be invitation-only events. To express your interest in attending one or both readings, please fill out this form.
Artists
Dustin Wills
Dustin Wills (Director, 56 Flowers) DUSTIN WILLS is a wandering theatre and opera director. Upcoming: Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play (Soho Rep & Ma-Yi Theatre), Handel’s Alcina (Yale Opera), Kate Tarker’s MONTAG (Soho Rep), Jeremy O Harris’ A Boy’s Company Presents: Tell Me If I’m Hurting You. Recent: Keith Reddin’s Black Snow (Juilliard), Phillip Howze’s Frontières Sans Frontières (Bushwick Starr—named a Top Ten Theatrical Production of 2017 by New York Magazine), Will Arbery’s Plano (Paper Chairs, Austin TX), Casey Llewellyn’s O, Earth (Foundry Theatre—Off-Broadway Alliance Best Play 2016), and a 2018 Baryshnikov Arts Center Residency. Recent opera: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol. He has devised new work with Teatro L’Arciliuto in Rome, Italy, created large-scale puppetry pageants with Creative Action, trained with Augusto Boal in Theatre of the Oppressed legislative performance, and for a couple of years gave rogue tours of the Vatican. He is a Princess Grace Award recipient, as well as a Drama League and Boris Sagal directing fellow. MFA: Yale School of Drama
Polly Pen
Polly Pen writes book, music and lyrics. She is an Obie Award winner for the score of Bed and Sofa, which received seven Drama Desk nominations. Bed and Sofa premiered at Vineyard Theatre and received its London premiere at the Finborough Theatre. Polly’s first Off-Broadway production as both composer and co-author, Goblin Market, received five Drama Desk nominations and the Best Plays Special Citation for Musical Composition and Adaptation. Other works include The Night Governess (McCarter Theatre), House for Sale (Transport Group), Her Lightness (Sarasota Opera), The Dumb Cake (a radio musical for NPR), Embarrassments (Wilma Theater) and Christina Alberta’s Father (Vineyard Theatre), which received a Richard Rodgers Award, an Obie and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Music. Polly is the recipient of several NEA grants, The Kitty Carlisle Hart Award and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Award for Musical Theatre. She has been honored by fellowships at Moulin á Nef in Auvillar, France, Sundance Theatre Lab at Ucross and The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, Italy. Polly received the 2009 Flora Roberts Award for a distinguished body of work. She has been a National Theatre Artist-in-Residence at McCarter Theatre and is a professor at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Polly has served on the Council of The Dramatists Guild, the Board of Dramatists Play Service and the nominating committee of the Tony Awards. Polly’s latest work, Arlington, premiered at the Magic Theatre, San Francisco and Vineyard Theatre, NYC. The original cast album of Arlington was released by Broadway Records. In another life, Polly worked extensively as an actor on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in repertory theatres throughout the U.S.