Vince Gatton
He/Him/His
New York, NY
Vince Gatton is a New York-based playwright and Drama Desk-nominated actor. His short plays have appeared in mtp’s annual CHERRY PICKING at the Wild Project in
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Vince Gatton is a New York-based playwright and Drama Desk-nominated actor. His short plays have appeared in mtp’s annual CHERRY PICKING at the Wild Project in NYC, at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, Ohio and The New American Theatre in Los Angeles; IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF HI-Q and BETTER were finalists for the National Short Playwriting Award at City Theatre in Miami; JAM won Best Play in the 2015 LIC Short Play Festival; and BETTER won the 2018 Samuel French OOB Festival and was recently published by Samuel French. His full-length play ALEXANDRIA was the winner of Sanguine Theatre Company’s Project Playwright 2018 and was a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award. WAKE, his first full-length play, was a finalist at Dayton Playhouse’s FutureFest, Boomerang Theatre Company’s First Flight Festival, and Vintage Theatre Productions’ Mystery/Thriller New Play Festival.

He received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play for David Johnston's Candy and Dorothy, which he also performed at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre in Cape Cod.  Other notable acting credits include Leigh Fondakowski’s SPILL at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Cock and Clean Alternatives at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca; I Am My Own Wife and Fully Committed at Barrington Stage Company; I Am My Own Wife again at Coachella Valley Rep (Desert Star Award Nomination) and Two Turns Theatre Company; Taylor Mac’s The Hot Month at Boomerang Theatre Company; and The Temperamentals at New World Stages, standing by for Michael Urie. Vince was a founding Board Member of New York Shakespeare Exchange, with whom he’s appeared in King John, Titus Andronicus, ShakesBEER, and The Sonnet Project. 

You can catch him being himself on a certain re-run of Jeopardy, in the documentary Married and Counting, and in the Pippin episode of Encore on Disney+.

Plays

ALEXANDRIA
by Vince Gatton

In a small town library in the Deep South, two librarians share an unlikely close friendship, despite being on opposite sides of the culture war. But when a young runaway, global events, and the Sweep of Human History come crashing through their front door, what will it take for that friendship to survive?

Alexandria is a play about relationships that cross deep divides of belief and conviction: what those relationships are worth, and what they cost.

Cast:
BRENDA, 50-something white woman. Head librarian and a local, born and bred. Brenda has a jagged, unavoidable scar on her face. She flows like a wide river, calm, steady, and always forward. RAY, white man anywhere in his 30s – 40s. Looks like a bespectacled hipster, or as close to a hipster as you can get in these parts. Smart, funny, warm, and hyper-verbal. Works at the library. His people go way back. OL’ MO, African-American, no one knows how old exactly, but old. The library equivalent of a barfly, he’s always around, always carrying a violin case. An antisocial loner, he’s full of opinions he keeps to himself. PAM, woman in her mid-40s to 50s, any ethnicity. From Chicago, and you can tell it from the sound of her. Loud, and with a low tolerance for bullshit. MONTÉ, teen boy, African-American. Uninterested in and incapable of gender-conforming, he has pink nails, a regal demeanor, and the cuts, bruises, and scars that come with both. Determined, smart, and intuitive, he holds onto his self-worth like a treasure and a weapon. He’s from a place even smaller than here.
Better
by Vince Gatton

**Winner - Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

Two women working along the line of a poultry-processing plant in Arkansas share many things, including their views about personal improvement; but when those views unexpectedly diverge, old cracks break wide open.

 

Cast:
RUTH: A middle-aged white woman who works at the plant DONNA: A middle-aged white woman who works at the plant
You Have Earned Bonus Stars
by Vince Gatton

Danielle has survived a shocking act of workplace violence; her quiet older co-worker Jimmy has not. A small act in his final moments becomes a clue that sets Danielle off on a quest on his behalf, a quest that sends her down a rabbit hole of secrets, lies, and questions about her own place in the moral universe – and the state of the moral universe itself.

You Have Earned Bonus Stars is a comedy about tragedy, an exploration of the judgement we all face – from the great beyond, from each other, and from ourselves.

Cast:
The play should be done with five actors: 1. Danielle, vaguely 30-ish, any ethnicity. She appears to be the very model of a “good girl”, but that is not her whole story. Danielle is a plus-size woman, which should be reflected in the casting. 2. Beverly, vaguely 40-ish, any ethnicity but with a lean toward African-American. She is the mother-hen to her work friends, and is older that Danielle in temperament, if not actual age. Also plays Stephanie, a high-school girl, an Imam, and a Passenger 3. Victor, vaguely late 20s-ish, any ethnicity but with a lean toward API or Latino. He thinks with his mouth, lacking much of a filter; he is younger than Danielle in temperament, if not in actual age. Also plays a high school Teacher, a Flight Attendant, and a Passenger 4. A female-identifying actor of any age or ethnicity to play multiple roles: a. Maryanne, a corporate executive b. Danielle’s Mom c. Barista DeeDee, a single mom d. Courtney, a high school girl e. Betty, an aging beauty who’s led a hard life f. A Rabbi g. An Airport Barista h. A Passenger 5. A male-identifying actor of any age or ethnicity to play multiple roles: a. Ed, a corporate executive b. Danielle’s Dad c. Jimmy, a quiet older office worker d. James Richter, a kindly artist e. Paul, a nice vanilla guy, living a nice vanilla life f. A Priest g. Nick, a criminal There is also one pre-recorded or offstage voice in the final scene.
Wake
by Vince Gatton

Dan and Eric have a new marriage license, a new baby, and a new house in the country. As they settle into this new life, Dan is having what seem to be sleepwalking episodes. A ghost story told by a young visitor leads Eric to suspect that Dan's sleepwalking incidents are actually something far more sinister -- but are they what he thinks they are? Or are there other forces at work?

WAKE is a ghost story for the post-AIDS generation, a play about marriage, expectations, and the power of narrative to both heal and harm.

Cast:
DAN, Caucasian, 45 - 50, married to ERIC. An introvert. ERIC, Caucasian, 30-ish, married to DAN. An extrovert. TERRELL, African-American, 45 - 50, friend of DAN. Gregarious. ESME, African-American, 20s, niece of TERRELL. Insightful. CHARLIE, any ethnicity, 30-ish, friend of ERIC. Sexy and knows it.