‘Control Top’: Vermont playwright takes a comedic deep dive into what women wear and why
September 14, 2026 | By Lee Kahrs | Correspondent
Cast of 'Control Top' by Carole Vasta Folley (center) with (l to r) Linda McGinnis, Kelly Kendall, Pam Toof Norton and Kimberly Rockwood. Lindsay Raymondjack Photography
Like all of her plays, South Burlington playwright Carole Vasta Folley’s latest work, “Control Top,” is keenly sharp and funny. But it’s a departure from her previous work – and it’s a departure with a message.
In “Control Top,” Vasta Folley takes on an issue integral to the lives of women everywhere: Clothing. And not just what they wear, but why, how it made them feel, and how it held them back. In other words, gendered clothing, the impracticality of women’s clothing options, and how our culture devalues women through clothing.
“Control Top” debuted last year and is enjoying its second run on several Vermont stages this fall, including the Grange Hall Cultural Center in Waterbury on Oct. 1-2, and at Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater, Oct. 22-23.
Kelly Kendall and playwright Carole Vasta Folley channel the 1950s in this moment from 'Control Top.' Lindsay Raymondjack Photography
“This is my eighth play,” Vasta Folley said in an interview with this week. “All the others are story-driven. In this one, I created a conversation among women. That’s what gives us power. And it’s not only powerful, it’s empowering.”
“Control Top” is a 90-minute, one-act play featuring five actresses, including Vasta Folley. They appear as one character, and each one shares stories of their relationship to women’s clothing. It is written in the spirit of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler, and “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” by Nora and Delia Ephron.
This run is being sponsored by Dr. Kym Boyman and Vermont Gynecology in South Burlington.
The play was developed thanks to a grant from the Vermont Arts Council, as well as grants from the Vermont Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2023, Vasta Folley began interviewing women she knew about their experiences, and said she ended up speaking to dozens of women by the time she was done, often perfect strangers.
“It was so labor-intensive,” Vasta Folley said, “and it kind of morphed into talking to women everywhere I went.”
The playwright has been an award-winning columnist for The Other Paper in South Burlington for years, and her “In Musing” column garnered back-to-back first-place wins from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in 2025 and 2026, as well as several first-place wins from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. She is currently at work on a memoir.
Many of the ideas that inspired “Control Top” and her other plays originated in Vasta Folley’s columns over the years.
“I’m not interested in writing boo-hoo material,” she said. “But I am interested in truth-telling, and a lot of truth is freedom. And a lot of us are raised NOT to tell the truth. There’s a lot of reasons for the way we are, and I like to look at that with a sense of humor.”
Vasta Folley has tackled tough subjects in her work before, including belonging, female friendships, loss, and abuse, creating strong, vibrant roles for older actresses in an industry that often ignores them. In “Control Top,” Vasta Folley continues to showcase the difficult conversations she believes we need to be having, laughing all the way.
“Because it’s one of my signatures, using comedy to talk about hard things, this works really well here,” she said. “Then we pop the hood and see what’s really under this. At its essence, it’s about women in conversation and connection.”
Vasta Folley created several foam board displays of advertisements, catalog photos and magazine covers through the years depicting women’s clothing and the marketing tactics used. The boards are displayed in the lobby of the theater at each performance.
“Oh my god, the things we’ve been told,” she said. “I think it was roiling around inside of me, like, you know, I could really use some pockets in my clothes.”
But the play is not an attack on men; it’s bigger than that, Vasta Folley said.
“Ultimately, the play at its essence is about the patriarchy,” she said. “Why can’t we talk about that? It’s not about blaming men; it’s about the system. We need to talk about it.”
And the playwright found that women in the audience wanted to talk about it too, so Vasta Folley hosts a Q&A after every show, although she said she doesn’t say much.
“It’s more of a listening than a Q&A,” she said. “Women want to be heard, and they have a lot to say. And that has been my goal all along. Listening to women and the power of that, and that has a ripple effect.”
And that ripple is reaching the men in the audience as well. As one man wrote in a note to the cast after seeing “Control Top”: “I am a more understanding, informed, and intelligent man today than I was yesterday, thanks to all of you.”
Tickets for “Control Top” can be purchased online at www.control-top.com
The women of 'Control Top' pose a question. (L-R) Pam Toof Norton, Kelly Kendall, Linda McGinnis, playwright Carole Vasta Folley, and Kimberly Rockwood. Lindsay Raymondjack Photography
Upcoming performances
Sept. 25, 7 p.m., at the Hyde Park Opera House, hosted by the Lamoille Valley Players. Includes a post-show question/answer with Vasta Folley and cast. Tickets: $20, online in advance or at the door.
Sept. 26, 7 p.m., and Sept. 27, 2 p.m., at Shelburne Town Hall. Tickets available soon.
Oct. 1-2, 7:30 p.m., at the Grange Hall Cultural Center in Waterbury. Tickets available soon.
Oct. 9-10 in Burlington. Venue to be announced. Tickets available soon.
Oct. 22-23, 7:30 p.m., at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier. Tickets: $20 for general admission; $28 for reserved seating. Livestream also available. Details and purchasing online at lostnationtheater.org.
For more information, visit the play’s website at control-top.com.