SYNOPSIS

Garret is a failed academic working as a delivery driver for the world’s biggest tech company. Starlee is a *future billionaire* looking to break into the industry on the road to ultra-wealth. When their paths cross in the middle of a tornado, the two must overcome their differences to survive in a world that’s increasingly hostile to without wealth.

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Patrick Vermillion is a playwright with two cats. His plays include The Good Boy Game (2020 O’Neill Finalist, 2023 Venturous Nominee), Bezos N’ Me (2021 O’Neill Semi-Finalist), The Teddies (2022 Steep Commission), and Losing It (Pegasus Playlab Finalist, Detroit New Works Semi-Finalist). His plays have been seen at Ensemble Studio Theatre, MirrorBox, Alchemical Lab, Soho Playhouse, and IRT. His plays have been developed at Butler University, Louisiana State University, and Sarah Lawrence College. MFA: Northwestern University.

A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

1. When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?

Of all writing, playwriting has the least amount of rules and the most amount of weirdos. I am bad at directions and somewhat strange as a person so I found playwriting came very naturally to me.

2. How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?

During the height of the pandemic, I worked a job where I had to drive around the Chicago suburbs and get yelled at by office workers while I tried to fix their printers. One day I was caught on the highway when a tornado formed and as I pulled over and braced for death I thought: “What an annoying way to die, at a job I hate” Luckily, I survived and I no longer work there.

3. What are 5 words that describe who you are as a playwright?

Scared, Alarmed, Paranoid, Panic-Stricken, Hungry

4. What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?

I really like writing about ugly people and ugly things. I like reading about someone despicable in real life and then thinking about what their mornings are like. What do they eat for breakfast? What movies are they looking forward to? Then I put them in a room with someone else who’s ugly in a different way and see what they say to each other.

5. What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?

For the past ten years, I have had a recurring dream where I am being chased by some unknown entity in the parking lot of the now defunct Toys R Us in Flushing, New Jersey near where I grew up. The reason for my chase changes every night, but it usually ends with me getting run over by a car.

6. What are some of your favorite plays?

The plays that haven’t left my mind recently:

Downstate by Bruce Norris
Is God Is By Aleshea Harris
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing by Will Arbery
Fulfillment by Thomas Bradshaw

And two plays I read that absolutely NEED to be produced ASAP:

Nightwatch by Max Yu
404 Not Found by Lucas Baisch

7. Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?

In August at The Brick my collaborator Teddy Dinner and I will be presenting our show “Selections from Lars and Jimmy” which is a 20-minute condensed version of a 10-hour play we recovered from an alternate universe that was discovered a Hadron Collider malfunction.

Also, my play The Good Boy Game is being produced by MirrorBox Theatre in Cedar Rapids, Iowa later this year!