If Bruschetta means a crusty bread topped with various flavors, then this group of six one-acts is represented by a misnomer: they are all too easy to take in and forget about to be hard to chew on. In Stardust, Louanne and Arthur, two freshmen in college, share romantic moments in Arthur's bedroom. The dialogue effectively captures the characters' awkward feelings, as when Arthur says, "I'd eat raw onions for you," and Louanne gawkily declares that "intercourse sounds like two computers connecting." Ryan Martin convincingly plays Arthur's innocence and geekiness as Arthur confesses how he catalogues what shoes Louanne wears (he is blind but can tell by the squeaks), and Louanne confesses she worries, because her father left her mother, that Arthur will abandon her for his hobby -- listening on his earphones for alien signals. In The Simple Things, an unattractive older man and unattractive older woman meet in person for dinner after first meeting in an Internet chatroom. Their heebie-jeebies and I'm-not-an-Internet-freak attitude serve to protect themselves but also end up hurting each other's overly-sensitive feelings. Both characters come off as ersatz Woody Allens, rendering Simple Things only somewhat funny. Keith Huff's The Food Chain displayed the best writing out of the bunch, giving wit and humor to its tense situation between a hitman and his captor, who owes the loan shark, Big Chunky, money. The hitman doesn't like it when his victims pander, but he thoroughly enjoys being sadistic -- leaving his captors with no method of cooling the situation. Trust Exercise, the most amateurish of the cluster, deals with two actors learning to "trust" one another. Well-cast Stesha Merle, playing Gina, naturally looks uneasy—an essential characteristic of her character. When Phil—who has a girlfriend—falls into Gina's trap of seduction disguised as a "trust exercise," he is caught on camera with his pants down waiting for Gina. In the last piece, Round 7, a couple break up. But we never care about them in the first place, so the play ends up being as forgettable and annoying as two bickering people on the street. In-between the one-acts is a four-part interlude titled "Ray and Bradley at the SuperK," about two guys who hang out at grocery stores trying to pick up chicks unsuccessfully.
Opened:
June 11, 2004
Ended:
June 27, 2004
Country:
USA
State:
Illinois
City:
Chicago
Company/Producers:
Appetite Theater
Theater Type:
Regional; off-loop
Theater:
Act One Studios
Theater Address:
640 North LaSalle, Suite 535
Phone:
(312) 787-9384
Running Time:
2 hrs
Genre:
One-Acts
Director:
Liz Warton (SuperK), Bill Brennan (Stardust), Zac Davis (The Simple Things), Lauren Golanty (The Food Chain), Michael D. Graham (Trust Exercise), Molly Martin (Round 7).
Review:
Cast:
Coryell Barlow (Brenda), Chris Blumer (Wendy Hill, Announcer), Tim Cunningham (Lou), Jordan Greenberg (Bernard), Kenna Knost (Beverly), Lita Lopez (Patsy), Stesh Merle (Gina, Nancy), Via Osgood (Luanne), Matthew Pearsall (Phil), Whitney Schaffer (Gwen) David Schultz (Ray), Ryan Smith (Jack), Stephen Whitehouse (Dr. Leo Grimm), Joseph Verstynen (Bradley).
Technical:
Stage Manager: Meredith Warton
Critic:
Kevin Henely
Date Reviewed:
June 2004
