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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>CVLT’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vital Signs</I> is strong and
stable<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Vital signs are
physiological indicators of life.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Our temperature, pulse, blood pressure and respiratory rate let us know
that all systems are operating within normal parameters.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Jane Martin’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vital Signs</I>—a collage of short,
introspective slice-of-life monologues—suggests that “normal parameters” are
relative where <STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">contemporary
</SPAN></STRONG>women are concerned and when men are involved.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The play consists of 32 brief stories
<STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">about
women as told by women, and is </SPAN></STRONG>currently in production at the
Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s intimate and bare-boned River Street Playhouse.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Unlike Eve Ensler’s
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vagina Monologues</I>, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vital Signs</I> is no gender-empowering
secret sisterhood soapbox, where the men in attendance are required to leave
their testosterone at the door. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is an inviting collection of often
humorous, mostly touching diatribes and disclosures that is intended for the
entire species, though (due to some mildly mature subject matter) not the entire
family. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The play is without a
linear storyline to give its amalgamation of mini-monologues a coherence or
purpose greater than its individual parts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Each vignette taps into a different moment in the life of different women
whose vital signs vary one to the next.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Each moment moves to its own heart beat, is either a cleansing exhale or
a dramatic gasp for air, and runs feverish or frigid.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The stories are
wonderfully performed by 10 experienced community players, hand-picked by
d<STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">irector
Yvonne E. Pilarczyk.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are
</SPAN></STRONG>Amy Pelleg, Dawn Hill, Brenda Redmond, Molly Clay, Lisa Tarr,
Natalie Dolezal, Kelly Wills, Mary Britta Shirring, Kathe Tascone and Wini
Kovacik.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Pilarczyk, who
directed last year’s CVLT festival of 10-minute one-act plays as well as the
theatre’s holiday show <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Reindeer
Monologues</I>, is rapidly becoming the area’s Grande Dame of the Short
Subject.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She is consistently able
to generate rich, honest petite performances from her
actors.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The material in <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vital Signs</I> is very eclectic, which
means that some tales will have less resonance than others, which means they
crash and burn.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Judging from the
audience at last week’s preview performance, however, most of the monologues
were engaging and found to be very entertaining.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“30 Hours,” as performed by Lisa Tarr,
was particularly well received.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It
focuses on how men come equipped with only so much good conversation before they
start running on empty.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mary Britta
Shirring’s “No Personality” and Kathe Tascone’s “Graceland,” which are the
playwright’s ventures into character-driven sketch comedy, delighted the
audience. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Father’s Circle”—an
extremely personal reminiscence— was particularly poignant thanks to Dawn Hill’s
tender delivery.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wini Kowacik’s
“Encyclopedia Salesman” and Amy Pelleg’s “Truck,” which offer intriguing
profiles of two women seeking very different forms of self-fulfillment, were
also favorites. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Previously, in this
column, it was suggested that watching one-act plays or collections of
monologues is like dining exclusively on hors d'oeuvres.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When they are good, they only whet the
appetite, and when they are bad, it is tempting to spit into a napkin and move
on to something else.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The tiny tales in <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vital Signs</I> are like a plate of
individually wrapped after-dinner mints.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They each offer a little
something different in the middle that may not be to everyone’s liking but are,
nonetheless, tasty and refreshing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Vital Signs</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
continues through November 21</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> at the Chagrin
Valley Little Theatre’s </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">River
Street Playhouse, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">56 River Street,
Chagrin Falls.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which
are $10, call 440-247-8955 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#000066>www.cvlt.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>