Finalist, 2020-21 Woodward-Newman Drama Award
Recipient, 2021 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship
Joseph Vitale
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Full-Length Plays
Dragons in the Crease
When a college professor asks a student with a severe stutter not to speak in class, it sets in
motion events that will cast them into the national spotlight and change their lives forever.
("Joseph Vitale's script is poignant...I look forward to seeing another production of this and
more work by this talented writer." -- Times Square Chronicles)
Performances: The Hudson Guild Theater in New York (September 2019)
Finalist, 2020-2021 Joanne Woodward/Paul Newman Drama Award
Back Channel
A Russian spy and an American journalist attempt to negotiate an end to the Cuban
Missile crisis in October 1962. Based on actual events.
Performances: Three performances at The Theater Project (April 2018)
Murrow
A one-character play about the life of one of the 20th Century's most important journalists and
broadcasting pioneers, Edward R. Murrow. ("A Dramatic Masterpiece..." -- Huffington Post)
Performances: A one-month run Off-Off Broadway at the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble
(May 2016) Visit: www.murrowtheplay.com
The Fourth State of Matter
A gifted Chinese astrophysics student murders his beloved professor and mentor. A detective
needs to find out why. (“The Fourth State of Matter will test your certitude, and might make
you question your perception of people and the universe as well." -- The Local/East Village)
Performance: The Theater for the New City/Dream Up Festival (August/September 2011)
Semi-finalist for the 2012 Eugene O'Neill Theater/National Playwrights Conference
The Interpreter
Nazi leader Hermann Goring goes on trial for crimes against humanity and the only one who can save him is his Jewish interpreter.
Performances: Performed at The Theater Project (November 2021)
Sunset Park
A trilogy of three interlocking short plays – The Dog Walk, In the Clearing and The Sandlot – about aging and coming to terms with the changes in our lives.
Performances: Selected to be part of New York Theater Festival's Summerfest 2022 in July 2022. Performed at The Theater Project (July 2023)
Inventing the Wheel
"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "till you know there is no hook beneath it." Two middle-aged New Yorkers, who meet on a swingers’ website, find out why.
Performances: Script-in-hand reading at The Theater Project (March 2013)
One-Act Plays
The Monster Under the Bed
"Best Play" -- 2019 Rhino Theater (NJ)
4th Annual One-Act Jamboree
"Best Play" -- 2018 St. Paul's (IN)
Theater One-Act Festival
Small Vises: A Trilogy
Ugly Baby
Clear Air Turbulence
A Memory of Music
Shave
Ledges
In the Clearing
She Said/She Said
Going Up
Condolence Call
Next to Him
You're Getting Sleepy
A Eulogy
Robert's Rules of Order
Duck Soup