THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE to Open at Lost Nation Theater

Lost Nation Theater will present the comedy made famous by Lily Tomlin: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe – in a limited engagement -  just two weeks only: Wednesdays-Sundays, June 4 – June 14th, at City Hall Arts Center, downtown Montpelier.

Lily Tomlin won a Tony Award for her work in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe – a show written especially for her by Jane Wagner. Lost Nation Theater is mounting its production especially for favorite collaborators Maura O'Brien and Stoph Scheer – who've worked with the company for 27 and 17 years, respectively. And this is the First Time they're working together? O'Brien and Scheer launch us into laughter, longing, love, and confounding conundrums as they play 15 different characters between them.

Through the eyes of Trudy (played by Maura O'Brien), an eccentric sharp-witted “homeless woman with a heart as vast as the cosmos she ponders, writer Wagner weaves a rich comic tapestry of interconnected stories. Trudy, explaining earth to her alien space chums, introduces us to a host of quirky characters (all played by Stoph Scheer). Search for Signs celebrates all the beauty, chaos, & contradictions of humanity, revealing the invisible threads that connect us all! It's brilliant, satirical, & hilarious.

“I love Trudy. She is smart, sassy and street-wise. She describes herself as crazy but I wonder if she is not more enlightened than the rest of us. As we hustle and bustle through our days, Trudy takes time to have fun, to live in the moment, and to enjoy and appreciate life and all its mystery. She teaches all of us lessons about life that we need to hear.”-  Maura O'Brien.

Directed by LNT Founding Artistic Director Kim Bent, LNT's production of this masterwork features stellar design with Costumes by Jessica Della Pepa Clayton (Prom, Our Town), Scenery by John Paul Devlin (Drowsy Chaperone), Lighting & Video by Avi Sheehan (Our Town), sound by Andrew Vachon (Complete Works) and production stage management by Anna Blackburn.

“The Search for Signs... became an instant, era-defining Broadway phenomenon in the late 1980's, and revisiting it gives us a bird's-eye, rear-view mirror perspective of the bumpy road our ‘baby-boomer' generation traveled to get us to where we are today. The plays sharp, insightful, three-dimensional humor is profound and revelatory, and its final statement of faith that our common humanity will eventually be our salvation is deeply convincing and joyfully reaffirming. It's the kind of Theater experience we need now more than ever!” – Kim Bent

Search for Signs won multiple Drama Desk Awards and is celebrated as a “work of genius” for its blend of uproarious social commentary with poignant, emotional sketches of diverse characters.  Among the characters are the aptly named Agnus Angst, a troubled, misunderstood teen; the storytelling prostitutes Brandy and Tina; the jaded, privileged Kate; and Lyn, Edie, and Marge - activists from the early days of the women's movement.

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