Deborah Zoe Laufer playwright
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OUT OF STERNO
"A play that is almost impossible not to like, combining qualities of a fairy tale and tall tale with those of a wacky comic strip adventure. ...wickedly funny yet touching script."
"….zippy, playful, savvy, and even, at times, delightfully lewd."
"A sneakily substantial piece of eye-candy."
Dotty’s life in Sterno with her husband Hamel is absolutely perfect! It’s a fairy tale, it really is. True, in their seven years of marriage Hamel has forbidden her to leave their tiny apartment or speak to anyone, but Dotty is so very happy to spend her days watching video re-enactments of the day they first met.
When a phone call from a mysterious woman threatens to tear her world asunder, Dotty must venture out into the vast city of Sterno, and try to discover what it is to be a “real” woman.
Cast:
DOTTY: 23. Childlike and loving and hopeful, bursting with intense enthusiasm for everything. She refuses to think ill of anyone.
HAMEL: 30′s-40’s. Dotty’s thuggish husband. Very very very not smart. Loves his wife but is led by other credos and urges.
ZENA: 30′s.-40’s. The proprietress of Zena’s Beauty Emporium. Miss Tri-boro Area for two years running. Tough as nails.
DAN: Magically transforms himself into every other character in the play, including:
   Delivery Man,
Taxi Driver, Waiter, Mrs. Cuthbert
   Mrs. Peabody, Barb, Sallie Mae, Man the Bus         
20Production History:
Cherry Lane Alternative                         New York, NY
Portland Stage Company                         Portland, ME
South Bend Civic Theatre                       South Bend, IN
Charleston Acting Studio                        Charleston, SC
Fremont Community Theater                   Fremont, OH
Carpenter Square Theatre                      Oklahoma City, OK
Rover Dramawerks                                 Plano, TX    
   (Inaurural production!)
Burien Actor's Theatre                            Burien, WA  9/2014
Gloucester Stage Company                     Gloucester, MA
​Garage Theatre Group                           Teaneck, NJ
No Strings Theatre Co.                           Las Cruces, NM, (2/2017)
Restless Artists' Theatre                         Sparks, NV 11/2017
CVCCA                                                   Hickory, NC 12/2017
Siren Theatre                                        Portland, OR 7/2018
Mariemont Players                                 Cincinnati, OH 5/2019
Restless Artists Theatre Co.                   Sparks, NV  7/2024
Picture
Some reviews:
"You can enjoy Out of Sterno for its cheerfully non-doctrinaire tale of feminist awakening. You can also enjoy the show for its Crayola/Hello Kitty/Maira Kalman cartoon exuberance. But, like Dotty, you don’t have to accept any false choices — you can enjoy it for both."
"A sneakily substantial piece of eye-candy."
     — Jason Wilkins
http://thebollard.com/2009/03/12/out-of-sterno/

"Despite (or perhaps because of ) the show's heavy subject matter — oppressed woman forced into self-realization — Out of Sterno is zippy, playful, savvy, and even, at times, delightfully lewd."
 http://portland.thephoenix.com/arts/78012-breaking-away/#ixzz34pICypo3

“Out of Sterno,” a play that is almost impossible not to like, combining qualities of a fairy tale and tall tale with those of a wacky comic strip adventure. The wickedly funny yet touching script by Deborah Zoe Laufer
http://newsok.com/theater-review-out-of-sterno/article/3859480
“Wickedly funny, absurdist tale on modern life”                       
     --TheColumnAwards.org

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