It's the 2007 NFL season and the Detroit Lions are on a winning streak — unfortunately out of work steelworker John Waite is not. With humor and humanity, playwright Vince Melocchi offers a glimpse into The Tenth Ward Club, where the patrons place their hopes on their team, and attempt to escape the creeping demise of their city and of their way of life.

2009 Ovation Award nominee - Best Playwriting

"...Melocchi's play is a smart, humanistic...observation of working-class survivalism." - Los Angeles Times

"Lions is about hope...about the endurance of a middle class getting squeezed...finding life amid the lifeless" - Detroit Free Press

"...an all-around touching portrait of Middle America, a reminder that 'real Americans' need not be so reductively characterized as Joe the Plumber." – L.A. Weekly

“In Vince Melocchi’s play, Lions, we are privy to the hardships of a group of downtrodden men and women who are faced with the economic sufferings of today’s world.” - Stagehappenings

After years of self-exile in Detroit, Lou Perino returns to his hometown in Pennsylvania to right a wrong he did 50 years ago to Julia, the girl he loved. Once, the Korean War stood in their way - now it's something entirely different.

This beautiful story of love and pride delicately explores the nature of forgiveness, grief and redemption.

” Julia is a very touching work by playwright Vince Melocchi written with the conviction that the little, almost incidental, acts of youth can haunt us for a lifetime…. a vibrant exploration of love and regret…. takes a simple story and brings it to the personal level, with immediacy, honesty and restraint.” – Reviews Off Broadway

“…precisely drawn and movingly dramatized. Vince Melocchi creates immediacy and intimacy. What appears to be a simple story embraces the larger concept of crossing chasms…This is a satisfying evening of solid theater.” – Playing Around- N.Y

“Critic’s pick - … Melocchi’s new play, sensitively directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, is eloquently understated and gracefully melancholic, subtly packing an emotional punch.” “Melocchi’s script offers a resonant depiction of small-town life, illuminating crushing disappointments experienced by ordinary people ” Les Spindle – Backstage

“GO! – Melocchi’s writing is deceptively top-heavy with conversations that at first appear pointless but gradually coalesce to construct the psychological underpinnings of strikingly plausible blue-collar characters.” Paul Birchall – L.A. WEEKLY

“…the play has the low-key feel of real life — just regular people making up their lives as they go along.”…. this small, sweet play really lives…. ” Charlotte Stoudt – L. A TIMES

“RECOMMENDED! – Melocchi has written a wonderful touching play with marvelous characters, each once created perfectly…” – Stagehappenings

“JULIA is…surprising, tense, funny, sweet and redemptive. Melocchi approaches his characters pathos with a comic poignancy; this allows the subject matter to resonate long after we have left the theatre” – Tony Frankel- Stage and Cinema

“…the unconscious sensitivity of Melocchi’s precise text…never leaves the audience in any doubt that a great memory drama is being created.” – Madeleine Shaner- Beverly Press

” See JULIA and/or any other play Vince Melocchi writes.” – Suzy Williams – The Beachhead

Bobbie Jo Gunning is an Army National Guard recruiter in Western Pennsylvania. Amy , a woman who has recently lost her fiancee in the Afghanistan war. Neither of them sleep well these days. Amy, because of what she's done. Bobbie Jo because of something she hasn't dealt with. In order to move on and live their lives they will need to come to terms with the past and the present. Nice Things explores the changing and diminishing options now available for young men and women in small town America.

"Best of 2014" - Jose Ruiz - Review plays

“ STAGE RAW RECOMMENDED” – “Melocchi is not really interested in pointing fingers and playing the blame game… all his characters are victims of circumstance —and the human condition.” Neal Weaver – Stage Raw

“This play packs a one-two punch that comes out of nowhere leaving the audience gasping for breath and wondering what else can happen. Part of the intrigue is the back story…YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS PRODUCTION.” – Jose Ruiz – Review Plays

“I should tell you that I really liked “Nice Things”, which seemed exemplary of what theater needs to be, and not so much about what it doesn’t. Good to be witness to a show that exists so much in its moments and needn’t necessarily have any life outside of that to validate itself” – Myron Meisel - L.A Drama Critics Circle

Nice Things has a powerful and lasting message that left me deep in thought as I pondered the burning question, “is our military really on a volunteer basis? Is war worth the price? – Rose Desena - Los Angeles Post

“NICE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY” – “...Melocchi really excels with the driving action of this play…gripping. It has something rather important to say.” – Patrick Hurley – That awesome theatre blog!

“Melocchi doesn’t go that route. He digs deep and gives us a complex character… makes a strong case for the rest of us not to forget these people, especially those who gave their lives for our freedom and well-being. The play does all it can to remember and honor them.” – Willard Manus – Totaltheatre.com

Years after a violent collision in a baseball game ended Anthony Rizzo's All-Star career, he gets an unexpected visit from an old friend.