Vivian Green, Playwright
Vivian Green
Wyncote House
25 Washington Lane #413
Wyncote, PA 19095
215-576-0462
ARTISTIC VISION:
Personal relationships intrigue me. Also worlds and time periods outside my own experience. Injustice of any kind raises my hackles, though I try to temper outrage with humor. Most of my plays are written in a realistic style; occasionally they take an experimental form. I enjoy playing with words as if they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
FULL-LENGTH PLAYS
1. ON THE STROLL / lm,5f; This contemporary drama, told with a touch of humor, is about the abuse of street prostitutes. A law student is mistakenly arrested along with some prostitutes. Workshopped: Philadelphia Dramatists Center, Philadelphia, PA.; reading: Walking Fish Theatre, Philadelphia, PA; workshop / reading: Simon Studio at the Drama Bookshop, New York City.
2. UNION SQUARE / 3m, lf; 1923. This full-length drama with music is loosely based on the Biblical tale of Jacob, Rachel and her father, Lavan. The play explores the conflict between the immigrant generation and its children and about the competition between a father and a husband. The setting is a stringed-instrument shop on Union Square, New York City. Staged readings: The Roger Hendricks Simon Studio at The Dramatists Guild Loewe Room, NYC; Second Stage at the Adrienne, Philadelphia, PA.
3. THE PACT / lm,5f; 1939. This full-length Holocaust play is appropriate for high school students and beyond. It asks the question: Why did it happen? Warsaw, Poland. The German Army requisitions a Jewish high school for girls and plans to turn it into a brothel. The Catholic headmistress objects, but Lieutenant Hoffmann says, “Things happen in wartime. Afterward nobody remembers them.” Produced: Cabrini College, Radnor, PA. Workshopped: The Simon Studio; The Philadelphia Dramatists Center. Staged readings: The Lantern Theatre; Upstairs at Plays and Players; The Ethical Society of Philadelphia; Mikveh Israel Synagogue with Christ Church (all in Philadelphia).
4. MY SISTER’S KEEPER / lm,2f; now. Work-in-progress. A drama about the tangled relations of two sisters and one of the sister’s husband. Developed: Philadelphia Dramatists Center; Staged reading: Hedgerow Theatre, Rose Valley, PA
5. FORGERIES / 2m, 2f; now and 1940. Work-in-progress. Based on a true story of a Jewish man who sold forged music manuscripts to the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
6. LOVELADIES / lm,2f; now. Work-in-progress. Romance, the second time around.
7. IN LOCO PARENTIS / 2m, 2f; now. Work-in-progress. An older couple and a younger couple. Professor and his student. One section presented as work-in-progress, Theatre Row Theatre, New York City; staged reading, Hedgerow Theatre, Rose Valley, PA.
SHORT PLAYS
l. SINGLE AGAIN / 1f; now. A one-hour tragicomic monologue about starting over after losing a partner. Bunny Fineman, middle-aged widow, goes online seeking a mate. Her adventures in the world of online dating eventually lead her to finding herself. Produced: Upstairs at Plays and Players; Klein Jewish Community Center; Welshwood Condominiums; York Houses North and South, all in Philadelphia PA. B'nai B'rith Women, Green Hill Condominiums, Wynnewood, PA; Jewish Community Center, Allentown, PA; Festival of Books, Art & Culture, Jewish Community Center of Southern New Jersey, Cherry Hill, NJ. Dramatic Readings: MilkBoy Coffeehouse, Ardmore, PA; Martins Run Residential Community, Media, PA; Readings in Restaurants; Bakers Bay Condominiums; Klein Jewish Community Center; Order of the Golden Chain, all in Philadelphia, PA; Kaiserman Jewish Community Center, Wynnewood, PA; Abramson Center, North Wales, PA; JCC KI-AJ Senior Group, Elkins Park, PA; Katz JCC, Life-long Learning Center, Cherry Hill, N.J.
2. SEASICK / lm,lf; now. Another play about searching for a mate, this one-act comedy, takes place on a cruise ship where a steward and a passenger meet and decide to get married…or do they? Produced: Samuel French Short Play Festival, New York City; Brick Playhouse, Philadelphia, PA; Martins Run Residential Community, Media, PA.
3. DANCING IN THE DARK / lm,lf; now. A 45-minute play, also about starting over. It takes account of the baggage (carry-on luggage or full-size trunk) people bring to a new relationship. A widow and widower meet for a second date. Produced by The Simon Studio: WNYC Radio; WBAI Radio; West End Gate Theater (all New York City); Actors Center Theatre At the Bourse; Jewish Community Center (Philadelphia); Beaver Hill Apartments, Jenkintown, PA; Jewish Community Center, Haverford, PA; Wyncote House, Wyncote, PA.
4. VISITING RITES / lm,lf; now. A one-act play about a confrontation between a father and his eleven-year-old daughter after ten months apart. It addresses the price children pay in a divorce. Produced: Playcrafters, Skippack, PA; Love Creek Productions Short Play Competition; “Critics Choice,” Samuel French Short Play Festival, both in New York City; ”First Place,” Play Works Company’s One-Act Play Competition; Jewish Community Center, both in Philadelphia, PA
5. HOW DID I DO? / lm; now. A chilling 10-minute monologue by a rapist. Produced: The Brick Playhouse; Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA
6. THE FOOT PEDDLER (optional one or two-person play); 25 minutes. On a cold, rainy night at the end of the 19th century, a Jewish foot peddler is offered hospitality by a prostitute. Produced: Theatre Ariel; Published: Dramatic Publishing; Audiotape production: Theatre Arts Department, University of Pennsylvania; Produced: Jewish Community Center, Philadelphia, PA.
7. WESTERBORK / lm,2f; This is a one-act Holocaust play. In l94l, the commandant of Westerbork, the Dutch transit camp, is invited to dinner by a young Dutch woman who is secretly Jewish. Advising her is the ghost of Judith, the Apocryphal character who beheaded the general, Holofernes. Commissioned and produced as a ten-minute play by Theatre Ariel Philadelphia; Produced in expanded version at Samuel French One-Act Play Festival, NYC.
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
2010: Finalist; Leeway Foundation Transformation Award
2005: Leeway Foundation for Women
1998: Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship: administered by TAP
1991: VISITING RITES: “First Place,” Play Works Company’s One-Act Play Competition, Phila., PA; “Critics’ Choice,” Samuel French Short Play Festival, NYC
1988: Theatre Association of Pennsylvania Fellowship in Theatre
1988: Pennsylvania Humanities Council; Dolfinger/McMahon Foundation Grant
COMMISSIONS:
Theatre Ariel Commission for a Ten-minute Play Festival (WESTERBORK in an early version)
RELATED ACTIVITIES:
Ongoing touring of "Single Again" throughout the Delaware Valley and beyond. Collecting stories for a book on losing a partner and moving on
Conducted playwrighting workshops: The Young Playwrights Festival; various Philadelphia locations
Conducted writing workshops: Harcum Junior College, Bryn Mawr, PA; Jewish Community Center’s Daroff Campus for Seniors at various Philadelphia locations
Participated for several years in The Simon Studio Theatre Workshop, New York City
Participate in playwrighting workshop, Philadelphia Dramatists Center
EDUCATION:
B.A. music history, American UniversityWriting workshops, University of Pennsylvania
Independent Study: University of Utrecht; Hebrew University