Genre: Comedy, 10-minute musical

Creators: Book by Judy Meiksin, lyrics by Dana Leahy, music by Angela Thompson

Synopsis: When lab rat STARR invents a vaccine for the common cold, it’s her turn to take center stage. But her comfort zone is in the lab. After she’s encouraged by her mother to go on a TV magazine show to announce the vaccine, STARR gets upstaged by her self-promotional postdoc and the “do-whatever-it-takes-to-keep-the-ratings-up” host. Will STARR be able to seize the moment to convince the audience that her vaccine is safe and actually an overall scientific success for humankind?

Characters (in order of appearance):  

STARR, female, 30s; mezzo-soprano with a belt

MOM, STARR’s mother; soprano

BILL, STARR’s post-doc, male, 20s; tenor

HOST, female

Place:  Stage of a TV news magazine program

Time:  Present