Lorraine Midanik

Lorraine Midanik

Lorraine Midanik was born in Toronto, raised in Los Angeles and lives in the Bay Area.  After a career in academia, she became a playwright and studied with Anthony Clarvoe at Stagebridge.  Recent productions include:  BRANDING (Little Fish Theatre, 2019), ORDINARY DAY (Valley Players, 2018), RECALCULATING (Grateful Deadly Productions, 2018), CYCLED (B8 Theatre, 2018), SHOCK VALUE (PCSF Playoffs, Exit Theater...
Lorraine Midanik was born in Toronto, raised in Los Angeles and lives in the Bay Area.  After a career in academia, she became a playwright and studied with Anthony Clarvoe at Stagebridge.  Recent productions include:  BRANDING (Little Fish Theatre, 2019), ORDINARY DAY (Valley Players, 2018), RECALCULATING (Grateful Deadly Productions, 2018), CYCLED (B8 Theatre, 2018), SHOCK VALUE (PCSF Playoffs, Exit Theater 2017), UP THE WALL ($wampland Voices, Exit Theatre, 2017); RECIPROCITY (Unknown Players, Cafe Stories, Phoenix Theater 2017); CYCLED (ReproRights, 3 Girls Theatre 2017); BENCHED (PCSF Playoffs 2016); BOY IMAGINED (ReproRights, 3Girls Theatre 2016); FREEDOM OF SPEECH (PianoFight, 2016); and, SPARSE PUBIC HAIR (PCSF’s Sheherezade’s Last Tales Festival - 2015 The Stuart Excellence in Bay Area Theater Award and TBA’s Award for Outstanding Production of An Anthology).  Upcoming production:  Her full-length plays THE PULL, JANUARY 23rd and CLINIC INTERRUPTUS have had recent staged readings.  Lorraine is a member of The Dramatists Guild, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, The Playwrights Center, Minneapolis, Theatre Bay Area (2015 ATLAS Playwright), and The International Centre for Women Playwrights.

Plays

  • Ordinary Day
    Full Length: Maggie and Henry’s long-term marriage struggles because of the challenges of Henry’s Alzheimer’s disease. From his continuous middle-of-the-night calls to plumbers because the “toilet is talking” to Henry’s inability to be left alone, Maggie continues to be a supportive partner despite its impact on her physical and emotional health. Frustrated that the recently passed physician-assisted suicide...
    Full Length: Maggie and Henry’s long-term marriage struggles because of the challenges of Henry’s Alzheimer’s disease. From his continuous middle-of-the-night calls to plumbers because the “toilet is talking” to Henry’s inability to be left alone, Maggie continues to be a supportive partner despite its impact on her physical and emotional health. Frustrated that the recently passed physician-assisted suicide laws do not apply to Henry, Maggie and Henry have made a pact to allow him to die on his own terms when Henry can no longer remember Maggie’s name. When that time arrives, on an ordinary day when Henry feels strong enough to go through with his plans, Maggie cannot accept their agreement. Amid an intrusive daughter who wants to help but will no longer let her children see their grandfather, sleeping pills that are becoming harder to get, and worsening memory problems, Maggie navigates the fine line between enabling her husband to carry out his own end-of-life decision and her own need to be with him for just a little while longer. (Drama; 90 min.)
  • Academic Pursuit
    Full Length: The dean of a small school in a large university finds herself in conflict with many of her faculty as she tries to gain support for policies that would insure a more diverse faculty, student body, and curriculum. As opposing faculty begin to die, the dean becomes a prime suspect in this satire of academia and all its pretenses.
  • January 23rd
    Full Length: A respected State House Representative is accused of raping his wife who lives in a nursing home and has late-stage Alzheimer’s Disease. Knowing that his step-daughter is behind his arrest, Calvin Hayfield becomes a defendant in a trial that has the potential to ruin his reputation while uncovering family conflicts. As the trial proceeds, the boundaries become blurred between sexual assault...
    Full Length: A respected State House Representative is accused of raping his wife who lives in a nursing home and has late-stage Alzheimer’s Disease. Knowing that his step-daughter is behind his arrest, Calvin Hayfield becomes a defendant in a trial that has the potential to ruin his reputation while uncovering family conflicts. As the trial proceeds, the boundaries become blurred between sexual assault versus affection and competency versus dependency. Is it possible to really know the truth?
  • Clinic Interruptus
    Full Length: What first appears to be a normal Saturday morning at a family planning clinic turns into a takeover, replete with hostages, by a woman with a gun who wants to "help women." In the course of a day, debates ensue, tempers flare, and compassion emerges as everyone's beliefs are tested. (Drama/Comedy, 90 minutes)
  • Stay With Me
    One Act: Two women meet at a bar that leads to a one-night stand. One has recently divorced; the other is widowed. Both are grieving in their own ways and wondering what is next in their lives. Their differences appear to be overwhelming for any relationship to form; yet circumstances well beyond their control force them to be together longer. Can they form a lasting relationship?
  • Call Forwarding
    One Act: A BART train headed to SFO.  Two strangers sitting next to each other talking loudly on their cell phones to their disgruntled partners in Boston.   Is it destiny or just a bad connection? (Comedy 1W, 1M, 10 minutes)
  • Recalculating
    One Act: A slightly drunk older woman needs a ride from her self-driving car to get to her boyfriend's house.  Unfortunately, her car has different ideas about where her relationships should be going.  (Comedy 1W, 1M; 10 min.)
  • Shock Value
    One Act: Ben's world is shaken when he discovers that his Grandmother does more than watch TV, read and play Mah Jongg.  (Comedy; 2W, 2M; 10 min.)
  • Sparse Pubic Hair
    One Act: Two older adults meet online both thinking they want a "no strings" relationship only to discover they both seek the same thing:  intimacy. (Comedy; 1W, 1M; 10 min.)
  • Up The Wall
    One Act: For the third time, Maria Lopez tries to enter the country illegally much to the dismay of two border patrol agents.  This time she seeks asylum with a twist.  (Comedy; 1W, 2M; 10 min.)
  • Cycled
    One Act: One woman, five cycles, a lifetime.  Growing up and liking it? (Comedy; 5W, 1M; 10 min.)
  • Boy Imagined
    One Act: A woman meets with the son she might have had 40 years ago if things had been different.  Was he the child that "got away?" (Drama; 1W, 1M; 10 min.)
  • The Revolution
    One Act: When a zumba teacher fails to accommodate an older adult in class, Sadie takes matters into her own hands and organizes a rebellion. (Comedy; 2W, 4 Gender Neutral; 10 Min.)