About the Play:

Vanities has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Female/Female Scenes, and Three-Female Scenes.

Vanities is a full-length dramatic comedy by Jack Heifner. Set at three very important moments in their lives and in the world at large, Vanities is a brilliant character study of three high school girls who laugh, plan, and fight their way from the women they want to become, into the women they truly became. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

Vanities chronicles the lives of three girlfriends from their days together as Southern high-school cheerleaders to their days apart as adults living out their lives in and around New York City. In 1963, Joanne, Kathy, and Mary are aggressively vivacious cheerleaders. Five years later in their college sorority house, they are confronting the uncertainties of their futures with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. In 1974, they reunite for an afternoon in Kathy's apartment. Their interests and livelihoods have changed in many ways and their friendship, which once thrived on assumptions as well-coordinated as sweater sets, is strained and ambiguous. Old time banter rings false. Their attempts at honest conversation only show they can no longer afford to have very much in common. Through laughter and tears, Vanities explores the complexities of friendship, identity, and the passage of time, resonating with audiences of all ages.

Vanities premiered in 1976 at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway in New York City and transferred to the Chelsea Theatre Center (now the Westside Theatre). It ran for five years in New York and became one of the longest running and most produced comedies in off-Broadway history. One of those rare scripts that offer more than one juicy female role, it enjoyed widespread acceptance among leading regional theatres. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is a popular choice for school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female

What people say:

"Unnervingly funny... Fast moving, sneakily stinging dialogue." — Newsweek

"Uncommonly attractive." — New York Magazine

"This is a deceptively simple tale ... about three human beings poured by the accident of birth into a particular social mold that happens to be scheduled to fall apart during their lifetimes." — The Globe and Mail

About the Playwright:

Jack Heifner is an internationally acclaimed American playwright. He is best known for the play version of Vanities, which ran for five years in New York, and became one of the longest-running plays in off-Broadway history. He is also the author of more than 30 other plays produced in New York, Los Angeles and theatres around the world. He has written for television and film, as well as the book to six musicals.