Reviewed by:

• Vanessa in Bedby Diana Grisanti
• Gina M. Di Salvo

Finally, a comedy about dead mothers, millennial flailing, and the legacy of colonial wealth that spans from an abortion clinic along the Ohio River to a bed-rest study in a Texas swamp. Diana Grisanti's new audio play, Vanessa in Bed, centers on the existential and physical stasis of Vanessa, a 37-year-old who recently lost her mother, terminated an unwanted pregnancy, and had a falling out with her cousin Brigid. The titular bed in which Vanessa lays is not the one she shared with the neurotic trustfund hobby pilot who impregnated her during a fling. Vanessa has committed to stay in bed alone for ninety-one days with her head at a sixdegree decline. She expects to incur digestive issues and muscle atrophy. Vanessa's trial of endurance is not for penance but rather for a bedrest study that simulates the effects of antigravity on the body. The space exploration division of Paralax, a commercial enterprise founded by a descendant of Dutch colonizers, aims to launch commercial travel to Mars once the earth has been fracked to bits. This is no science fiction play. It is a financial reality play. Vanessa is giving her body to Paralax to earn $80,000 to fund Brigid's divorce. If she can be a hero, she can win back her cousin. But Vanessa only makes it to Day 49. Her failure is as spectacular as the fall she experiences when she gets out of bed in a fit of anti-neoliberal self-righteousness, breaking her contract. Wheelchairbound with a herniated disc and staph infection on her face, Vanessa is ultimately saved by Brigid.

Vanessa in Bedswitches back and forth between the bedrest study and Vanessa's recent past. At home, Vanessa's life is filled with a chorus of women: seven paternal aunts, Grandma Jane, and Brigid and Mary Beth, two of her twenty-seven cousins. Brigid is a stayathome mom and an volunteer escort at an abortion clinic, and Mary Beth is a nun. The cousins grew up together in the What Happened to Aunt Colette Club. Aunt Colette, the missing eighth paternal aunt, disappeared when she was 17 and pregnant. The cousins' investigation centered on scouring the contents of The New Woman's Survival Catalogfor the addresses of communes and collectives that Aunt Colette might have joined. Grisanti stretches the mystery of Aunt Colette through the play. Although it is never solved, the biggest clue—that book of secondwave feminist resources—provides salvation for the cousins.

The impact of Aunt Colette's absence is a site of intergenerational trauma and reverberates in Mary Beth's vocation as a nun and Brigid's dedication to reproductive choice. At the end of the play, when Brigid and Vanessa admire Mary Beth for "getting out," they do not mean from their hometown in southern Ohio. Rather, as they drive away from a past determined by capitalism and disappointing masculinity, Vanessa and Brigid head toward a future of communal interdependence, albeit one devoid of Mary Beth's religious vows. For both Vanessa and Brigid, the worst has already happened: they have lost their mothers. The next worse thing is for them to lose each other while alive.

As a bornaudio new play, the dramaturgy of Vanessa in Bedfully embraces its medium as both an audio recording and theatre. In past experiences with audio drama, I have had difficulty following the story when characters are only voiced rather than both embodied and voiced. With Vanessa in Bed, I occasionally craved to see the action onstage, especially the physical challenge of actors at a sixdegree decline or the hilarious inappropriateness of two study subjects attempting to hook up through their hospital beds. I definitely yearned for fellow audience members to experience this play with me. The medium of the asynchronous audio play enables access to new work without dependence on geographical situation, synchronic time availability, or bodily ability. At the same time, the past few years...

 校订者：

• 
  戴安娜·格里桑蒂 （Diana Grisanti） 的《床上的凡妮莎》
•  吉娜·迪·萨尔沃

最后，这是一部关于死去的母亲、千禧一代的胡乱挥舞和殖民财富遗产的喜剧，从俄亥俄河沿岸的堕胎诊所到德克萨斯州沼泽地的卧床研究。戴安娜·格里桑蒂 （Diana Grisanti） 的新音频剧《床上的凡妮莎》（Vanessa in Bed） 以 37 岁的凡妮莎 （Vanessa） 的存在和身体停滞为中心，她最近失去了母亲，终止了意外怀孕，并与表弟布里吉德 （Brigid） 闹翻。凡妮莎躺着的那张名义上的床，并不是她与那个神经质的信托基金业余飞行员共用的那张床，后者在一次逃跑中使她怀孕。Vanessa 承诺独自卧床 91 天，她的头部下降了 6 度。她预计会出现消化问题和肌肉萎缩。Vanessa 的耐力试验不是为了忏悔，而是为了模拟反重力对身体影响的卧床研究。Paralax 是一家由荷兰殖民者后裔创立的商业企业，其太空探索部门的目标是在地球被压裂成碎片后启动前往火星的商业旅行。这不是科幻剧。这是一场金融真人秀。Vanessa 将自己的身体交给 Paralax，以赚取 80,000 美元来资助 Brikit 的离婚。如果她能成为英雄，她就能赢回她的表妹。但 Vanessa 只活到了第 49 天。她的失败与她在反新自由主义的自以为是中下床时所经历的跌倒一样壮观，打破了她的合同。Vanessa 坐在轮椅上，脸上有椎间盘突出和葡萄球菌感染，最终被 Brigid 救了下来。

Vanessa in Bed在卧床学习和 Vanessa 最近的过去之间来回切换。在家里，Vanessa 的生活充满了女性的合唱团：七位父系阿姨、简奶奶、布里吉德和玛丽贝丝，她们是她 27 个表亲中的两个。布里吉德 （Brigid） 是一名全职妈妈，也是一家堕胎诊所的志愿者护送员，玛丽·贝丝 （Mary Beth） 是一名修女。这对表兄弟在 What Happened to Aunt Colette Club 一起长大。失踪的第八位阿姨科莱特阿姨在她 17 岁怀孕时失踪。表兄弟俩的调查集中在搜索 The New Woman's Survival Catalog的内容，以查找 Colette 阿姨可能加入的公社和集体的地址。格里桑蒂在剧中延伸了科莱特阿姨的神秘面纱。虽然它从未得到解决，但最大的线索——那本第二波女权主义资源书——为表兄弟姐妹提供了救赎。

科莱特阿姨的缺席是代际创伤的场所，并在玛丽·贝丝 （Mary Beth） 作为修女的职业和布里吉德 （Brigid） 对生育选择的奉献中产生回荡。在戏剧的结尾，当布里吉德和凡妮莎钦佩玛丽·贝丝“走出去”时，他们并不是指来自俄亥俄州南部的家乡。相反，当他们摆脱由资本主义和令人失望的男子气概决定的过去时，凡妮莎和布里吉德走向了一个社区相互依存的未来，尽管一个没有玛丽贝丝的宗教誓言的未来。对于 Vanessa 和 Brigid 来说，最糟糕的事情已经发生了：他们失去了母亲。接下来更糟糕的是他们在活着的时候失去了彼此。

作为一部 bornaudio 新剧，《Vanessa in Bed》的戏剧构作充分体现了其作为录音和戏剧的媒介。在以往的有声剧经验中，当角色只有配音而不是同时体现和配音时，我很难跟上故事。在《Vanessa in Bed》中，我偶尔渴望看到舞台上的动作，尤其是演员在六度下降时的身体挑战，或者两个研究对象试图在医院病床上勾搭的滑稽不恰当行为。我绝对渴望其他观众能和我一起体验这部剧。异步音频播放的媒介使人们能够获得新的作品，而不依赖于地理环境、共时时间可用性或身体能力。与此同时，过去几年......