We did it! Three amazing world premiere performances of Vincent John Doe at City Gallery, part of Piccolo Spoletto 2018, are now behind us. It was surreal for this playwright/actor, after all that work, over so many years, to receive standing O’s, applause after each scene and sold out crowds actually laughing at all our jokes!

My gratitude to the fantastic cast and crew behind the success of this production is beyond words. And of course, my love and gratitude goes out to Barbara Pitcher, who came all the way in from NYC to direct; she believed in this project, even when I was ready to chuck it. We worked together 25 years ago and it was a dream come true for us to reunite. The entire experience has been sublime.

I hope you will take a look at the powerful audience responses we received, as well as the nice review in the Post and Courier.

These beautiful audiences returned the inspiration our great troop created making the play. A miraculous circle of inspiration. I kept saying all along, “VJD was blessed.” It should never have happened and yet somehow it did. What started almost as a dare became so much more. The play explored several important themes while telling a compelling story. The important thing is we got people talking about truth, identity, the meaning of insanity, the cost of fame, authenticity and artistic purity, the nature of existence, commodification of art, the responsibility of the artist, overcoming creative blocks, childhood sexual abuse and of course, the creative process itself.

Special Thanks to those who sponsored this production:

Dr. Joseph Ales “Optic”                 Melanie Cason
Jeff Cook Realty                              Deanna Zapico
David Gillespie                                Thomas and Judy Heath
Steven Zimmerman                        Linda Gish
Susie Shultz                                      Maria Munoz
Adelphe Irmiter                               Otto Borsich
Roy Hiller                                          Richard Hanf
Elizabeth Maniscalco                      Gregory Kaneb

“But what would life be if we had not the courage to attempt.” Vincent

Very happy to announce the winners of the live paintings from the recent performances of VJD. Congrats to Harold Whack (pictured) and Larry Mayfield. If you’d like to purchase the couple shoe knock-offs I made during final rehearsals and the three performances of #VincentJohnDoe please let me know. I find them interesting. Each one took 8-10 minutes to make, painted in the spirit of #VincentVanGogh. They are the same two subjects (a shoe still life and a portrait of Dr. Fisher) created in very similar extraordinary conditions. But each one reflects the particular mood and emotional state I was in at the time

And finally, if you are connected with a theatre who might want to produce future productions of VJD, please let me know. I will send potential producers a complete script and all the info they need.