DEADHEADS chronicles Sadie and Ethan’s twenty-year relationship as they follow the Grateful Dead across the country. As Sadie and Ethan travel from concert to concert, from crappy motel room to crappy motel room, we follow the triumphs and travails of their relationship. While they navigate issues from collegiate concerns to marital challenges, Sadie and Ethan fall in and out of love with the Dead, as well as with each other. The play investigates how healthy relationships become abusive, and why people remain committed to each other over time. Played to the music of the Grateful Dead, DEADHEADS asks “Where does the time go” when you think you’re in love.
Production History:
- Production – The Owl and Cat Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, 2016
- Staged Reading – The Barrow Group, New York, 2017
- Staged Reading – Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Alaska, 2016
- Workshop – Lyra Theater Company, New York, 2016
- Staged Reading – Paul Enger Memorial Play Reading Series, 2015
Awards: Recipient of the Yale University Marina Keegan Award for Excellence in Playwriting, 2015
Photo from 2016 Production at The Owl and Cat Theatre, Australia
Reviews:
“Viterbi picks up on a lot of fun slang and interesting cultural connections, including the predominance of an American Jewish following, but the real heart of the play is the relationship and dynamics between Ethan and Sadie… Deadheads is a really lovely, intimate night of theatre. Viterbi tells an important story: Sometimes abuse does not leave bruises, and not everyone grows up.” – Samsara, What Did She Think? (July 2016)
“Viterbi has given us an enjoyable… journey of discovery and reminiscence that started out with such hope. Before it is over you cotton on to the fact that love will only get you so far and then reality will intervene – even if the connection between this duo will never be broken. We mighty want a happily ever after, fulfilling all that promise ending, but that would be akin to recognising the tooth fairy and Father Christmas actually exist.” – Alex First, Blurb Magazine (July 2016)
“Deadheads will hit you right in the feels.” – The Urban List:5 Awesome Things to Do in Melbourne This Week (July 2016)