From Starlite Players’s first season come four audience favorite short plays. One could easily see why they were favorites. In Confessions a Deux by Stephen Cooper, sharply directed by Mark Woodland, Don Walker plays an older, staid priest with Brian Keys as a nervous young one, who confesses the sin of adultery. He’s even more nervous when he must, in turn, hear the elder’s confession. Soon, the latter learns from the former that they can share in sins and absolutions. Very funny, though the Catholic confessional protocol is incorrect since playwright Cooper omits the need for a statement of true contrition and aim to do better before absolution can be given. In We’re Having a Baby by Irene L. Pynn, Jamie Lee Butrum acts in astonishment at her husband’s proclamation that he’s pregnant. Rik Robertson grows (hilariously) smug after her attempts at denial, but she’s encouraged at first by her OB/Gyn Doctor. He (Michael Kinsey, amazed but attempting to keep professional) has enough interaction with Rik to change his mind. Jamie Lee Butrum self-directs beautifully and guides others accordingly. In Thanks for the Memories by Marvin Albert, Chuck Conlon and Jenny Aldrich Walker are perfectly persuasive as an elderly couple getting “frisky” on a park bench. Tired, they’d like to get back to their hotel but can’t remember where it is. They get a polite policeman’s awakening from Brian Keyes, full of knowledge and sympathy, but the older man still has a question to ask. Director Don Walker makes their plight humorous, but possibly with a happy future in store. In Breaking Harvard two parents, enthusiastically played by Nancy Denton and Tyler Yurckonis, are trying to get their son into prestigious Harvard. As a dean of admissions, proper Michael Kinsey doubts they can come up with the expensive, required tuition cost. But when they give the full details of their income, the dean is convinced of all they can do. In fact, he might even be interested in their visit later benefitting the dean himself. Director Mark Woodland raises enthusiasm aplenty for author Nicole Cunningham’s tale out of school.
