Books by Gino DiIorio

Vincent DiDonato is an overweight, unattached, and unevolved goombah in his late forties who spends most of his time doing as little as possible at Centennial Casting, the metal casting shop he owns with his mother on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When Vincent’s mom dies suddenly, he inherits the shop and is thrown into the front office, where he discovers a pile of headshots sent in by actors over the years that had mistaken the metal shop’s casting service for a theatrical casting agency. Vincent is struck by the photo of one Edie Keaton. Ms. Keaton, a down-on-her-luck actress in her late thirties, is trying to return to the business after a difficult divorce. Vincent, who has never been in a successful relationship, saves the picture and résumé. When his assistant and boyhood chum, Doo-Doo, realizes his boss is interested in Edie, he sets up an “interview” for the actress, hoping it might lead to a date for Vincent, his first in many years. Vincent reluctantly agrees to pose as a casting director in order to meet the actress, and when Edie walks in for her “audition,” he falls head over heels in love with her. Edie, in turn, is interested in Vincent, but is even more interested in getting an acting job. As the ruse continues, Vincent and Doo-Doo realize they must heighten the stakes in order to keep the relationship going. What will happen when Edie discovers that Vincent is only posing as a casting director? Will true love triumph, or will the characters drown their sorrows in cannolis? The answer is a heartwarming, hilarious tale of two ordinary people in an extraordinary situation who find dreams can come true at Centennial Casting.

Characters: 2 males, 1 femaleSingle setWinner! 2005 BBC International Playwriting ContestTyrus Cole, a horse trainer, lives on a ranch with his invalid sister Mary. Because he can't watch her during the day, Tyrus has Mary confined to a root cellar. When Dwight Foley arrives at the ranch seeking help with his horse, he and Mary fall in love and begin plotting the demise of Tyrus and their eventual escape. Their plan escalates and in the end, the three find themse

1m, 2f / DramaSheila Gold, 55, a successful Jewish businesswoman suffering from terminal cancer, is spending the end of her life in a comfortable hospice where her only companion is her 30 year old daughter, Rachel. The two have a tense relationship as Rachel has spent most of her adult life working at Planned Parenthood and is generally a disappointment to her entrepreneurial mother.While in the hospice Sheila has become fascinated by a late night televangelist, Dr. Julian Strong, a black man in his 50's. She finds his message inspiring and comforting and she writes Strong, offering to make a sizable donation to his ministry. Much to her surprise, Strong flies out to visit Sheila, presumably to see her sign the check in person. His physical presence is even greater than his TV persona and the two fall head over heels in love. Sheila begins to toy with the idea of converting to Christianity and spending her final days with Strong's church in California. This revelation upsets her daughter to no end as Rachel is certain that Strong is a crook, promising hope and salvation, when all he really wants is to come between her and her inheritance.Is Strong truly in love with Sheila or is he only out for her money? Sheila must choose between her daughter and a new love and lifestyle, in what will certainly be her final days."When Sheila Gold announces to her grown daughter, Rachel, that she is thinking of trading in her barely used Judaism for late-model, born-again Christianity, it looks as if we're being set up for a play about religious faith. But Gino DiIorio has something else up his sleeve in Apostasy, the absorbing new drama running through Aug. 13 at the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch. Sheila's flirtation with Jesus is going to turn into a flirtation of an entirely different kind. And abortion politics will intrude messily on the play's relationships. " - The New York Times