Storms Without Warning

A full-length Play

winner of the Sienna College International New Play Competition

Wayne and Carly have been married for seven years, during which he has systematically reduced her to an emotional cripple, paralyzed by fear of the next attack which always comes in their sick dance of abuse and isolation. When an unexpected visitor arrives, the status quo is upset enough for escape... if she dares to take what may be her last chance.  Set in a remote mountain cabin, Storms Without Warning explores the the pathology that causes women to stay in abusive relationships, and the strength that is needed to speak the truth that sets them free.

Themes: Domestic violence, isolation, the power of truth, friendship.

One Set. 2 women, 1 man.

Seasons

A full-length Play

4th place winner - Samuel Goldwyn Writing Competition

What remains when trust is gone?

Erin has it all, or so it seems... a good job, a handsome fiancee, a brother she adores and a one on one relationship with God.  But when ghosts from her past invade her present, she's forced to reevaluate everything she thinks she believes... and find the strength to learn to trust - perhaps for the first time. Seasons explores the fall out of learning to trust after abuse and betrayal, and how God sometimes answers prayer in strange and unexpected ways.

Themes: Faith, trauma, grief, intellectual disability, the power of love.

One Set.  4 women, 3 men.

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women: The Musical

Book and Lyrics by Lori Vander Maten

Music by David Shukiar

winner of the YES Festival of New Plays

What does it mean to be a woman?

This musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic tale explores the many facets of womanhood as personified in the four March sisters:  Meg, the picture of beauty and charm; Jo, the independent adventurer; Beth, the submissive servant; and Amy, the seeker of admiration and ambition.  Join the March sisters as they navigate life, love and loss, and on the way, learn the power and meaning of true womanhood.

Themes: Femininity, independence, family, love.

One set. 13 women, 8 men, ensemble - some roles can be doubled.

In The Devil’s Frying Pan

A full-length Play with Music

Book and Lyrics by Lori Vander Maten

Music by Kevin Glenn

An Official Arizona Centennial Legacy Project

Who in their right mind would move to Arizona in pre-air conditioning days?

The answer is a hardy mix of saints and sinners, of rascals and renegades who looked at the rugged western terrain and saw not dust, and cactus and dangerous critters, but opportunity.  In The Devil's Frying Pan invites the men and women who settled pre-territorial Arizona tell their stories in their own words, and takes the audience on a ride through the wild west as it really was.  The product of a year and a half of research in archives throughout Arizona, this play with music pays tribute to those who came before and laid the foundation upon which the 48th state of the Union was built.  

Themes: Pioneer spirit in spite of hardships, melding of cultures, founding of a state.

One Set.  22-50 characters of all ages and ethnicities with overlapping roles.  Can be broken into smaller segments, or produced in its entirety.

Make Believe

A one-act Musical

Book and Lyrics by Lori Vander Maten

Music by David Shukiar

Winner of the Burdette Fitzgerald Memorial Award for Theatre for Young Audiences.

What if the only color in your world came from your imagination?

Eight-year old Amy grapples with loneliness and her mother's depression after being left by Amy's father.  As her mother, a children's book author, dissolves into panic over a deadline she can't meet, Amy retreats into the make believe world her mother has created, where her heroes Prince Humperdink and Scarlet Rose come to life and help her come to terms with her new normal... and find her way back to her mother's broken heart.

Themes: Divorce, abandonment, depression, the power of imagination.

One Set. 3 women, 1 man.

Benjamin and Judah

Coming in 2025!

A one-act Musical

Book and Lyrics by David Shukiar and Lori Vander Maten

Music by David Shukiar

An Indirect Sign of Light

Short Stories

The Flagman

A Novel

It began with a photo of my mother in front of a lighthouse - Gay Head Light - where she lived for a short time while her father was a Lighthouse Keeper.  Why did this photo capture my attention and imagination?  Because my youngest daughter looked just like her at the same age, a resemblance that prompted questions about her early life and what the genesis was of the woman she became, a woman who loved fiercely, but from behind an edifice built of pain, fear and, most probably, trauma of some sort.

This is a work of fiction, built upon a few true circumstances left to us, a story told from five perspectives spanning a period of almost 100 years.  It begins in Sakonnet Lighthouse in Narragansett Bay in the great hurricane of 1938.

What constitutes "family"?

Becky was born into a world where race is the primary indicator of the value of a person - but as she tries to reconcile the injustices she sees and experiences with the customs of her culture, she begins to question the foundation of who her family really is.  When a new preacher moves to town and starts challenging the status quo, and Becky develops an unlikely friendship with the "wrong" sort of person, truths come out that will either destroy her... or set her free.

Setting: Kentucky, 1890's.

Awards:

• Walt Disney Fellowship for Writers - semi-finalist

• Writer's Digest Screenwriting Competition - semi-finalist

Coming in 2025!