Plays

Bee in a Jar (2021)

Three men with very different temperaments try to figure out why they were seized a month earlier and locked together in a featureless room. Written by Andrew Nicholls, Directed by Laura Hall.

Bee In A Jar, performed 2-20-21. Produced by Mindy Cooper-Grenke & Lisa Quoresimo for Catalyst: a Theater Think Tank. Director: Laura Hall.

Mojave! The Musical (2016)

“Mojave! The Musical,” directed by Mindy Cooper, Spring 2016. Featuring students from the UC Davis Theatre and Dance program, a new work created by Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers.

THE SONGS

In “{LOVE/Logic}” two conference-bound theoretical physicists, set to debate the parity of the universe, meet in a Swiss train hallway, where each is by a concatenation of ridiculous coincidences unable to pass the other. As Daniel and Bronwen shuffle and spar, the situation turns haltingly romantic. A world away, in California, Daniel’s manipulative twin brother makes an unusual proposal to the woman he loves, setting up a parallel showdown between love and logic that will reverberate over 18 years. Directed by Josy Miller.

{LOVE/Logic]: promotional video with rehearsal footage.

Yes, And… (2022): After improv student Ellie gives a “plausible excuse” for her husband being late for work, she and Craig have to elaborate on Ellie’s improbable tale when they host the boss and her wife for dinner.

JINX (2023): Three millennials discover through a chance meeting that all of their jobs are fake, invented by their parents to get them out of the house. The outraged kids force a family showdown that prompts a generational debate over life and work in the 21^st century. When an opinionated young stepmother enters the mix, a larger confrontation is primed.

THE TOWER OF HANOI (2023): English major and poet Marcus invites math whiz Selena to join him on the high school stage for what she expects will be questions about her rejecting him at a party. Instead, he challenges her to guess if he can duct-tape two ladders end-to-end, balance them in two ski boots, then climb this precarious arrangement with a stool and balance on top. The ladder stunt will be staged twice again, with variations: First, at a University, as Selena defends her thesis in Probability to an Advisor who has designs on her. And a few years later, Marcus and Selena present the ladder question to an exec in the 3D scanning room of a tech startup which has cut Selena out of her shares.

IN BOB WE TRUST (2024): Impulsive Bob Siller shocks his Public Defender wife Mindy and their extended family when he announces he’s quitting his father-in-law’s accounting firm to open a record store, on probably the worst possible day for that decision.