Susan I. Weinstein

VAGUS- Description

Two sisters, JANETTE and ADDY, meet in Las Vegas. The "wandering nerve," the Vagus Nerve, becomes the pulse of motherless women in the desert of 1980s Americana. Addy, a Vegas talent agent and Janette, a NYC photographer, meet in a crisis of survival and values. What is not a "mirage" in this place where gambling, call girls and men with money rolls control the strange landscape? At stake is their precarious future, if they can find their missing mother, an itinerant baker for casinos. Female identity is a porous entity in that time and our own. That's the emotional landscape of this play. Other characters, include a transexual casino performer, a call girl, a golf pro, and a "player."

This play has had readings but no
production and is now in final form.
90 minutes

Same synopsis as written before.

This play is based on letters exchanged after Houdini's mother died, when he asked Doyle to find him a genuine medium. It takes place in the afterlife, where both are stuck, as are their wives. At stake is a metaphysical bet about the nature of life and death.

ETHER, based on their letters, recreates the seances and their dramatically opposite narratives. As the gap widened, the "frenemies," denounced each other on stages around the world with no end but their fortunes and lives. In the Afterlife of ETHER, the two are stuck in their passionate war about the nature of life and death. Was the Spiritualist, a doctor and author, a deluded fanatic? Was the ecape artist and master of physical illusion an unbiased observer of phenomena? As evidence mounts up, subjective and objective truths erupt in a transcendent conclusion.

April 12th at 7:30 in Dixon Place Lounge staged reading, no admission. 45 min. of full-length play about frenemies Houdini & Doyle. Stuck in competing versions of reality with their wives, they make a dire metaphysical bet.This is no period piece, the hereafter is our media environment. The Afterlife is their
warring concepts of the nature of life and death.

Are there sentient beings whose lives play put inside your device? Here the twilight feel of internet imaginings amid the electronic landscape. The story begins with a Rogue Program and an Off Shore server originally bundled together who merge in ways unplanned by their creators. In this lingo play programs bear traces of human origins yet are inhuman. Humanshadows interact with the beings inside the box, a shock of worlds within worlds in this dark and funny play.

Amid Lock-down, a couple in late 60s, Jean and Lyle, deal with the unexpected arrival of their late 20's son, Brian. In this family play, the Covid situation acts as a pressure cooker for this troubled family. When Brian's addiction to THC and psychotic reaction, leads to violence, all assumptions of love and duty are gone. The parents flee to a ramshackle country house, where Brian finds them with Lane, his social worker. Recalibration of "family" is a question mark in this fast moving almost farsical dramedy.

In our pandemic world, a young couple is taking refuge at the beach, yet are they at the beach? Are they young? We move to a club, other environs, which they change with a mysterious box. As the final identities and locale jell to the true picture, it is from the future, and they aren't refugees but tourists based in Mars. In our real world, wealthy already have tickets on Musk's Mars shuttle. If regular people wanted to flee a polluted earth, how would they find passage? Would the trade-offs be similar to those coming from Europe to our new world? This epxressionistic play takes place in a nonworld, or any place. A kitchen?

Two sisters, Janette and ADDY, meet in Las Vegas, and the "wandering nerve," the Vagus Nerve is the rhythm of motherless women in the desert of 1980s Americana. Addy, a Vegas talent agent and Janette, a NYC photographer are in a crisis of survival and values. What is not a "mirage" in this place where gambling, call girls and men with money rolls control the strange landscape of the U.S.A. At stake is the future, finding the long AWOL mother, an itinerant baker in casinos.

Two sisters, Janette and ADDY, meet in Las Vegas, and the "wandering nerve," the Vagus Nerve is the rhythm of motherless women in the desert of 1980s Americana. Addy, a Vegas talent agent and Janette, a NYC photographer are in a crisis of survival and values. What is not a "mirage" in this place where gambling, call girls and men with money rolls control the strange landscape of the U.S.A. At stake is the future, finding the long AWOL mother, an itinerant baker in casinos.

Two sisters, Janette and ADDY, meet in Las Vegas, and the "wandering nerve," the Vagus Nerve is the rhythm of motherless women in the desert of 1980s Americana. Addy, a Vegas talent agent and Janette, a NYC photographer are in a crisis of survival and values. What is not a "mirage" in this place where gambling, call girls and men with money rolls control the strange landscape of the U.S.A. At stake is the future, finding the long AWOL mother, an itinerant baker in casinos.

Set in the 1980s in Las Vegas, where two sisters, a decade apart in age, meet with very different objectives. At a loss how to proceed in VAGUS, the "wandering nerve" in the brain becomes a metaphor for these siblings trying to find the firm earth, the way forward in a fog of American culture, clouded with illusions about purpose, money and sex. All comes to a showdown, as the stakes of what's not a game become dire. Play has had many readings. Attached is first act. Rewriting 2nd.

same as previous