The Maternal Instinct staged reading to benefit the Connecticut Food Bank

The Higher Education of Khalid Amir at the Midtown International Theatre Festival

Lighter October 14, 2009 New York Musical Theater Festival at the TBG Theater
Brooke Pierce writing for THEATRE MANIA

Composer and librettist Monica Bauer's Lighter, playing at the TBG Theatre, is a zany and heartfelt musical that satirizes eating anxieties, diet gurus, tough-talking public access TV nuns, and reality shows. It tells the story of an overweight woman, Connie (Dierdre Friel), whose obsession with shedding enough pounds to fit into the perfect size 6 wedding dress ends up jeopardizing her impending marriage to the also-overweight Stevie (Eric Leviton).

The sweet center of Lighter is the love story between the two, and it's when Bauer is exploring that relationship (first solidified by a mutual appreciation of pasta, and later troubled by Connie's attachment to a diet scam) that the musical is at its best, full of both comedy and dramatic tension.

While the entire cast is very talented, the show shines brightest when Connie and Stevie are center stage, whether it's Connie singing about how unfair it is that women are expected to eat daintily on first dates ("The Salad Song") or Stevie crooning a bluesy lovelorn number ("Low-Carb Lady"). Leviton's Stevie is a good guy that wants to please his fiancée, but is strong enough to stick up for himself when her diet obsession becomes detrimental to his health. Friel's Connie is a no-nonsense Staten Island gal who loses her head when her weight insecurities get the best of her. They are a great pair and you really root for them to work out their problems.

Lighter does get a little heavy-handed towards the end as it focuses on blasting exploitative "diet doctors" and a culture that idolizes the freakishly thin. Still, weight obsession is an issue that is often trivialized and left to the realm of Lifetime movies, while the reality is that many American women are plagued by weight and body images issues.

The Higher Education of Khalid Amir July 21, 2008 Midtown International Theatre Festival at the WorkShop Theater
Irene Backalenick writing for BACKSTAGE

In this satirical piece, playwright Monica Bauer takes us on a dizzying journey through her imaginary (or not so imaginary) world. Bauer throws every type into the mix, a whirl of straights, gays, cross-dressers, Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

What does it all mean? The Statue of Liberty has been covered with a burqa, launching a cross-country rampage of similarly garbed statues. The government sees this as high treason and goes after an innocent Arab, a Denver State history professor. With this premise, The Higher Education of Khalid Amir takes off with a series of hilarious scenes and characters.

Under Craig J. George's facile direction, the story moves nonstop from scene to scene, with Joan Barber, Amir Darvish, Amanda Duarte, Alexander Elisa, John Fico, Norm Golden, and Tyler Hollinger as partners in crime. But particularly worthy of note are Fico as the nutty FBI man and Hollinger as a zany television star.

Presented by Good Works Productions and Howling Moon Cab Company as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival at the WorkShop Theater, 312 W. 36th St., 4th floor, NYC. July 15-Aug. 3. Remaining performances: Sat., July 26, 12:30 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 2, 2:30 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 3, noon. (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.

The Maternal Instinct in Boston and New York

The Maternal Instinct, April 11, 2006 Boston Playwrights’ Theater
David Frieze, writing in BACKSTAGE

“…an intelligent and highly entertaining new play. . .hilarity often ensues. . .But for all the laughs, The Maternal Instinct turns out to be a serious play about real real people with real conflicts. . .made me laugh, and moved me close to tears. . .This is one of the few new plays I’ve seen in the past couple of years that I would like to see again”.

The Maternal Instinct, July 24, 2006, Midtown International Theatre Festival production, WorkShop Theater
Dan Bacalzo writing in TheaterMania

“In Monica Bauer’s funny and moving new play The Maternal Instinct, the playwright sidesteps issues of morality that are often examined in works dealing with gay parenthood. Instead, she focuses on the hopes and fears that the situation can provoke for a couple. . .Bauer’s writing is engaging and witty, prompting plenty of laughter even as the playwright delves into subjects including alcoholism, biologically inherited traits, child-rearing, trust, and deception. This Instinct is right on target.”

Jack Hanley writing in nytheatre.com, July 23, 2006

“Monica Bauer’s The Maternal Instinct stays unflaggingly on the eponymous topic—beautifully exemplifying it empirically as well as emotionally. . .It’s theatre at its best. . .The science is intriguingly explored, presented accurately without going over the heads of the lay audience members such as myself. . .The Maternal Instinct is a play well worth seeing precisely because it makes you ask questions about your own personal standard of ethics. Again, that’s theatre at its best.”

Diet Monologues: The Musical

Diet Monologues: The Musical, MITF Next Step Developmental Series off-off Broadway. Where Eagles Dare Theater
Ron Cohen writing in BACKSTAGE, February 15, 2007

“Diet Monologues: The Musical gets a lot of good-humored mileage out of the tribulations of trying to shed all those extra pounds, while also celebrating that “women of weight” have nothing to be ashamed of. . .The material gives the cast several opportunities to show off heavyweight comedic and musical talent. Bauer’s music has some tuneful piquancy, and her lyrics more often than not hit a smile provoking bullseye. . .this ode to feminine plumpness, with its rough edges smoothed, could develop commercial heft.”

Oscar E. Moore writing in Talk Entertainment

“The show is hyped as an intimate musical-comedy revue dedicated to the proposition that laughter burns calories. And Ms. Bauer pretty much succeeds in that department. Her music is tuneful, though derivative at times. But very pleasant on the ears. her final song, Lighter, is quite appealing. There are some very funny moments, and the idea behind the revue is solid. . .There is an abundance of clever characters all acted with panache. The audience is asked to participate a couple of times to great effect. . .One of the funniest moments is the Ten Commandments of Dieting by Rev. Delphina. . .”Diet Monologues: The Musical has great potential, and I wish them all the best of luck with the next step, whatever that will be.”

Colorado Women Playwrights Festival, 2001, for full length musical, I Count On You

Finalist, one act play, 2005 Kennedy Center Region I American College Theater Festival, for Real Estate

Second Runner-Up, 2005, Ohio State University’s Eileen Heckart Award for Senior Drama, for Real Estate

Third Place Award, 2005, New Theater Works for Young Women, for Maternal Instincts

Honorable Mention, 2005 New Voices Play Festival, for Two Men Walked Into a Bar

Audience Favorite Award, 2005, Atlantis Playmakers Short Attention Span PlayFest, for My Trip to the State Pen

Honorable Mention, 2006 TRU Voices Reading Series for Higher Education: a Multicultural Comedy (later titled The Higher Education of Khalid Amir)

Semi-Finalist, 2006 Fourth Annual Playwriting Festival, Speaking Ring Theatre, Fred’s Last Chance

Semi-Finalist, 2008 American Globe/Turnip Theater 15 Minute Play Festival, Two Men Walked into a Bar

Pataphysics Seminar, The Flea Theater, 2005 (with Craig Lucas)

Great Plains Theater Conference, 2007

Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive, 2007

The Diet Monologues, 2005, by JAC Publications

The Most Important Thing, and The Drug Problem, 2005, Brooklyn Publishers

My Trip to the State Pen, 2007, Brooklyn Publishers