Two 13-year-old eighth graders commit suicide because their parents forbid them from seeing each other. The action unfolds in reverse to the moment they first meet in order to offer a glimpse into the intensity of discovery and anxiety of passion that accompanies experience for adolescents emerging from childhood yet still dependent on parental and school authorities. (25 minutes)

“A Case-by-Case Basis” offers an extraordinary evening of theater: four short plays spotlighting front-page issues such as teen suicide, homelessness, law enforcement, justice, language, race relations, immigration and parenting. These penetrating two-character studies, all previously produced Off-Off-Broadway, touch a nerve, hold suspense, and resolve unexpectedly. “Ask Me” (20 minutes) tells the story of two middle schoolers whose love is doomed when their parents disapprove of their relationship. By inverting the plot and staging a punk band to contribute to the narrative, Vassallo sheds unexpected light on the inexplicable intensity of youthful passion. In “How You Get to Main Street” (30 minutes), a lawyer stands up to his suburban town by defending a homeless man’s right to wander the streets of his community. He loses the hard-earned respect he had gained from his neighbors, and what he hoped to gain, an ideal kind of justice, is equally shattered by his client, who burglarizes his home. “The Community Service” (25 minutes) bends identities to examine cultural perspectives and focus on communication barriers between two people, a resolute candy store owner who recently lost her husband in a race riot, and an unemployed, radical community member estranged from his family. “The Spelling Bee” (35 minutes) thrusts onstage two young men, one black and the other white, each victimized in different ways by the same crime, each living on opposite ends of the same Bronx avenue that separates residents by their race, class, and culture. The New York Times said of this play, “Mr. Vassallo has taken an interesting approach. … There is some refreshingly honest talk from both characters—no political correctness here.” (120 minutes)

A homeless ex-boxer on the verge of death holds the fate of the man who shot him in his hands as he contemplates his last chance to make meaning of his harsh life. In his dying moments, he sees his life passing before him and recognizes that his assailant is the same person who did not give him a promised break twenty years earlier. Revenge or forgiveness? (25 minutes)

This alternately comic and tragic duet features a a teenage brother and sister at the wake of their father, a renowned linguist but negligent parent. In trying to assess their father’s professional achievement, brother and sister, masters of language in their own right, show they have inherited their father’s gift of communication—and realize they share his sense of isolation. (10 minutes)

A hospital patient on her death bed, a convict on death row, and an Iraqi captive speak to the audience. They are unaware of each other’s presence and of their blood relationship to each other. Through their monologues, we see the limitations of language, the richness of emotional energy on the face of death, and the nature of blood relationships. (10 minutes)

A tourist in a remote cafe is at the end of his obsessive solo European vacation when he realizes just how estranged he is from his self-made world. (6 minutes)

An aging, bigoted moving man returns from vacation to work with gripes against the world. He meets his new work partner, a deaf man of uncertain ethnic origin who is young enough to be his son. The little respect the older man shows for the younger one leads to his precarious destiny. (15 minutes)

Issues of art, pop culture, creating, travel, theology, betrayal, loyalty, loneliness, and friendship collide in this 12-sketch, 30-role production of 6 comedies and 6 dramas. Actors looking for diverse tour de force challenges can each play up to 6 roles, or the production can include up to 30 actors with any number in between. Each scene change requires no more than 1 minute preparation time.

NOTE: These 12 plays can be staged individually, partially, or collectively, and in any order that the production company deems appropriate.

(Running Time: 120 minutes)

ACT ONE (48 minutes)

1. The American Film Institute’s Top Ten Movie Quotes (In No Particular Order) – Lovers in a car cite the AFI’s top ten movie quotes as the situation dictates. (2 minutes, comedy)

2. The Legacy Poems – A renowned poet finds himself defending his work and his worldview as he meets a new editor and the publisher he thought he knew about his latest manuscript. (17 minutes, drama)

3. Take Me to the Darkest Light – A blind man confronts an anxious young working woman on a train platform, willing to pay her for light. (3 minutes, drama)

4. The Head’s Up – A tourist in a European cafe is on a long distance call with his wife in the USA as he endlessly awaits service and encounters the futility of visiting 27 European Union countries in an 80-day whirlwind tour. (6 minutes, drama)

5. Waiting – Two desperate people, a woman about to give birth and a man at a supermarket checkout counter, can use the same language. (3 minutes, comedy)

6. The Meaning of the Blues – Emily Dickinson, Duke Ellington, and Frida Kahlo meet for a walk through the Hermitage, Rijksmuseum, Louvre, Apostolic Palace, Prado, National Gallery, and Metropolitan Museum of Art as they share their art, philosophy, and affection. (12 minutes, drama)

ACT TWO (52 minutes)

7. The Five Stages of Grief – Whether it’s a couple breaking up their relationship or a boss terminating an employee, the five stages of grief will surely surface. (3 minutes, comedy)

8. Who, What, Where, When, Why, How – An artist silently sketches a grieving jogger near Ground Zero as he recalls his feelings of September 11, 2001, precisely seven years before. (6 minutes, drama)

9. This Is Your Life – A female and her subconscious age from 6 to 66 as the history American sitcoms unfold. (16 minutes, comedy)

10. Hooked Up – Two strangers in the waiting room of a doctor’s office become bitter enemies until they realize they were high school friends 11 years earlier. (7 minutes, comedy)

11. What If I Said – A veteran now employed by Homeland Security grapples with guilt, anger, and despair as his conscience alternately warns and mocks him about impeding security threats. (10 minutes, drama)

12. Writer’s Blockhead – The creative right brain and analytical left brain of a writer spar, frustrating her as she tries to complete a story. (5 minutes, comedy)

A seasoned, discontented, and defensive poet expecting a contract meeting with his publisher encounters an unexpected revelation about the value of his work and life when he runs into a young editorial assistant. (17 minutes)

May Day concerns the relationship of two women who meet 20 years after an event on May Day that changed their lives. Annie went on to become a famous trial attorney, legal scholar, and candidate for state Attorney General; Jenny was incarcerated for a federal offense and is now a single mother barely holding down a clerical job for the Legal Aid Society. They are forever connected by their friendship with two other women who tragically died when they all attended the same college and after the four formed "The Force," the fastest high school relay team in the country. (90 minutes)

An unusual high school senior in a small town seeks a reference librarian's advice on what she believes to be a mind-body problem.

A teenage couple, inspired by "Catcher in the Rye", meet in Central Park on a summer morning to share their views on life. (10 minutes)

A diligent, ambitious young Chief Operating Officer of a social services agency struggles in a twelve-year relationship with her significant other, an artist on the cusp of success, mainly because of their obsessive work ethic. Here life turns upside down when a stab wound victim shows up at her office one night with an unusual request, which takes her the darkest edges of the city in search of an apparently insignificant truth she is nevertheless hellbent on discovering.

Questions Asked of Dying Dreams is the umbrella title for four related one-acts: "What Do You Charge for a Cure?" (35 minutes), about a director of a clinical program for developmentally disabled individuals who confronts her professional and personal doubts as she deals with one of her clients and a new intake; "How Silent Do I Sound?" (15 minutes), about a bigoted, aging moving man who unexpectedly meets his new coworker and his own destiny; "Do I Bleed in the Dark" (25 minutes), about a homeless ex-boxer who has a final chance to make something meaningful of his life in his dying moments; and "Isn't This the Way You Wanted Me?" (25 minutes), about an embittered, frustrated wife who reassesses her marriage and life in light of her husband's remarkable transformation."Questions Asked of Dying Dreams adds up to a rousing maiden voyage for new playwright Vassallo and a challenging and enjoyable evening of theater. ... Cynical, sarcastic, funny, or angry, all four playlets are insightful and engaging--no mean feat--and each takes a hard look at life, their characters always questioning its meaning." -- Bob Coyne, Asbury Park Press. (120 minutes)

The two speakers are neither here nor there but everywhere, our contemplative conscience that accompanies all our experiences as we stride toward desires, steer clear of fears, and escape from inevitable realities. They are not contrasting characters but complementary ones, completing each other’s thoughts always with certainty but sometimes with profound sadness or satisfaction or strength. They represent the conscious choices we make, knowing full well we may regret them yet resigning ourselves to our human fate of exercising our free will. (10 minutes)

A young woman confronted by a blind man and a beggar on a subway platform experiences fear in a different light. (3 minutes)

An imagining of a life-changing moment in the life of Frederick Kittle, a black teenager from Pittsburgh, who will become the great playwright August Wilson. Frederick has been spending his days in the library since he dropped out of high school unbeknownst to his mother. A librarian engages him to transcend his bitterness about an uncaring world and to reach for his greatest self. (10 minutes)

Two couples, one in their sixties and one in their twenties, camp at a site distracted by each other's presence. As the older couple face their past and the younger their future, they find a moment of mutual peace in their present. (10 minutes)

As a high school boy prepares for his student council campaign speech, he struggles with two daunting tasks: overcoming the popularity of his more self-assured opponent, and living up to the success of his father’s career. As he suffers the relentless teasing of his younger sister and listens to the wise counsel of one of his classmates, he learns an important lesson about keeping things real. (30 minutes)

A veteran working in national security is torn between his commitment to his country and the limitations his job puts on him in fulfilling his obligations. (10 minutes)