Vanities is a comedy-drama stage

Stage (theatre)

In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...

 production written by Jack Heifner. The story centers on the lives and friendship of three Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 cheerleaders starting from high school.

Production history

Vanities had one of the longest Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 runs on record. The comedy opened at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....

, New York City on January 15, 1976, for 13 performances, and then transferred to the Chelsea Theatre Center (now the Westside Theatre

Westside Theatre

__notoc__The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway venue located at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs theater, which seats 299, and the Downstairs theater, which...

) where it opened on March 22, 1976 and closed August 3, 1980, running for 1,785 performances. The cast included Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates

Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...

 as Joanne, Jane Galloway (Kathy) and Susan Merson (Mary). Heifner received a 1976 Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

 nomination for Outstanding New Play. Other productions were performed in local colleges and theatres for a short time.

Other versions

• The stage play was taped and presented on HBO in 1981, for the program Standing Room Only: Vanities
  Vanities (TV program)
  Vanities is a Home Box Office television presentation of the comedy-drama stage production written by Jack Heifner, Vanities.-Background:...
  
  starring Annette O'Toole
  Annette O'Toole
  Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
  
  , Meredith Baxter Birney and Shelley Hack
  Shelley Hack
  Shelley Marie Hack is an American supermodel, actress, producer, and political & media advisor. Hack is best remembered for her role as Tiffany Welles in the fourth season of the ABC Television Drama Charlie's Angels ; replacing the departing Kate Jackson...
  
  .

• The play was made into a musical, Vanities: A New Musical
  Vanities: A New Musical (Musical)
  Vanities, A New Musical is a musical with music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum and a book by Jack Heifner, based on the book and 1976 play of the same name. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 2009, after an engagement at the Pasadena Playhouse, California in 2008.-Production history:Vanities, A...
  
  which premiered Off-Broadway
  Off-Broadway
  Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
  
   in 2009.

External links

• Official site, Vanities the Musical
• Vanities at Internet off-Broadway Database
• "'Vanities' Heads To Broadway In Fall '08 Starring Kennedy" Broadwayworld.com article.
• Stephen F. Austin State University, article and interview