Vile Isle

written by Justin Aaron Halle

directed by Spencer Whale

Dramaturg

A group of friends who call themselves 'queer family' is on the verge of spiritual breakdown or breakthrough, depending on who you ask. A dead-of-winter trip to Fire Island is threatened by an Old Testament-style flood. And Gnocchi the Cat is being Bat Mitzvah’d, God willing. Vile Isle is a passionate and provocative dark comedy about the ways we fail and forgive one another, and what faith is worth when our limits are existentially tested.

Vile Isle borrows specific references to the Book of Genesis. Though, nearly every culture has a reference to a cataclysmic flood, the Jewish understanding of “eschatology” (the branch of theology concerned with death and the end times) is specific. Because the play focuses on a group of people who are forced to come together, I wanted to provide a beginner’s guide to understanding the centuries-long legacy of people coming together and tearing each other apart at the “end of the world.” Thus, the “Judaism and the End of the World” packet was born. Vile Isle also features a character, Nathan, who uses an obscene amount of Adderall to get closer to something divine. I created the “Drug Use and the Divine” packet to provide a scientific understanding of Adderall and its effects both psychologically and physically to inspire the actor. The packet also examines the relationship between mind-altering substances and transcendence.