←Recommendations of Minutes and Seconds

Had the pleasure of working with this script in the Seattle production and it was just as dynamic on the stage as it is on the page. The dialogue flies as the tension builds and builds, lots of opportunities for the whole team to make choices but still feels solidly grounded in the world Chris has created. Hilarious and heartbreaking, would absolutely recommend to anyone considering producing this script.

A sublime play that opens with catastrophe at the fantastical/global level as well as the immediate familial level. From there, the sci-fi circumstances serve as a simple but powerful metaphor for the family implosion going on inside Brielle and Zachary's apartment. Vanderark provides enough details about the world to make the circumstances potent, but then skillfully focusing on the human heart of the play. The treatment of each flawed character is very sensitive--they are rendered with deft skill and are all clearly fighting their own impossible battles. The ending is a poignant, time-bending, stop-motion-animation-like punctuation mark.

Equal turns darkly hilarious and starkly serious Minutes and Seconds has a way of gripping you in its encapsulation of the past, present and "future" of a dysfunctional family that's been a lit fuse their whole lives. An incredible rapture of a play filled with people that clash, contradict and "cozy" up indoors while the world freezes to death outside. The ending is not only a punch to the heart but also a sort of quiet ruminated truth about trying to be alive. Read now!

If I imagined who would be the worst people to see spend the apocalypse together I think this play would come to mind. The end of civilization serves as a looming backdrop for this sorta "comedy of manners" as a family just all get pent up shit off their chest no matter who is hurt by it. Vanderark expertly takes us back to happier (or at least less hateful) times to contrast with the powder keg situation these four are in. With the right director, actors and designers this can be an extremely tense and cathartic time at the theatre.

"June's Timer begins to ring. No one is there to shut it off." what Chris does better than anyone i know is collapse gigantic concepts into the specific moments of human life. he tracks a new science fiction where science becomes the discovery of new rules and fiction is the discovery of the reality of living (for our purposes in m&s, what is science with no sun, what is fiction when loved ones betray you). it is thermodynamic. it is hysterical and chilling. vanderark continues to run the gamut on what is possible in a theatrical second.

I love how Chris drops us right smack-dab in the middle of the action - it's such an exhilarating way to begin the story, and because everything Chris gives us is so clear and vivid, I didn't have any trouble keeping up with this delightfully dysfunctional family. There is an incredible urgency to this play (I mean, duh, the sun just shut off) but Chris is also able to bring forth beautiful moments of stillness and self-reflection. Bravo, Chris!!

The show begins at the end of the world and, through many uncomfortable and often hilarious revelations, we see the lives of its characters - a weirdly familiar yet extraordinarily dysfunctional family - deconstructed. A smart and structurally fascinating play with conflict, humor and humanity. Spot-on clever dialogue and smart theatrical sensibilities make this a very producible play.

The sun literally shuts off! All the characters are stuck in the same house together (for the rest of their lives) as the world grows cold and dark! As you can imagine, drama ensues, and secrets come out. Somehow I laughed aloud multiple times despite these dire circumstances. Chris knows how to write hilarious dialogue and create compelling situations, but he manages to do it while challenging traditional dramatic structure at the same time... he's kind of a genius overachiever. Definitely give this a read.

What goes through your mind in the final moments of your life? Who do you want around as the world comes to an end? Minutes and Seconds takes us to an apocalyptic brink that is equal parts funny and bleak. I laughed a great deal... at moments because the writing was so on point, but also out of distress for thinking what I would say to the people I loved if I knew the end of the world was only moments away. Vanderark clearly has a knack for intertwining tension and humor in order to create this highly theatrical play.