BEST OF PLAYGROUND 17, featuring a fully-produced evening-length program of the best short plays by the Bay Area’s best new playwrights. Thick House, 1695 18th street, San Francisco. For more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/bestof.shtml. May 9-26, 2013
This year’s annual celebration of short plays by San Francisco Bay Area playwrights features: The Spherical Loneliness of Beverly Onion by Katie May, directed by Rebecca Ennals; Simple and Elegant by Evelyn Jean Pine, directed by Tracy Ward; Value Over Replacement by Ruben Grijalva, directed by Katja Rivera; Significant People by Amy Sass, directed by Steven Anthony Jones; My Better Half by Jonathan Spector, directed by Michael French; Symmetrical Smack-Down by William Bivins, directed by Jim Kleinmann.
Ensemble: Will Dao, Anne Darragh*, Dodds Delzell*, Carla Pantoja*, Rebecca Pingree, Jomar Tagatac*; June Palladino*, Stage Manager.
The plays for this year’s outing is a tight 85 minute without intermission with the eight member ensemble playing all 23 roles doubling as stage hands for minimal scenery changes with nary a hitch. They begin with the bitter-sweet The Spherical Loneliness of Beverly Onion a fanciful modern version of the ancient concept that our lives are controlled by higher Beings. Beverly Onion’s ( Carla Pantoja)life as a single lonely mortician’s assistant is being debated Fate (Jomar Tagatac) Luck (Anne Darragh). The theological/philosophical debate by Fate and Luck about life as a sphere leads to Beverly being introduced to a series of males (Will Dao). As ‘luck’ would have it the consequences are not what Beverly likes and she rebels against the forces/intrusion of Fate and Luck returning to the humdrum existence of her choice.
Simple and Elegant has a mystical flair that races to a ending, but not a conclusion, in a short 7 minutes. Fisherman (Dodds Delzell) has two daughters Simple (Rebecca Pingre) and Elegant (Carla Pantoja). The sister’s catch a magical fish and discovery a gold coin in its innards. Greed invades the scene leading to a death. Everyone knows that wealth/greed cannot ‘buy’ happiness. Repentance prevails and our mystical fish returns to the sea.
Value Over Replacement brings us back to reality and controversy of the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports. It is a tightly written script that has a surprise ending with semi-justification for their use. Jomar Tagatac as “Chip” Fuller who has succumbed to the temptation of their use gives a stirring semi-justification for doing so.
Significant People is a two hander with overtones of the battle of the sexes. A male (Dodds Delzell) and female ((Anne Darragh) Docent take us on a tour of the home of a deceased ‘significant person’ that is now a tourist attraction. Bickering takes place with each insinuating the male and female interpretation into the patter. One wonders “For what purpose.”
The final two offerings allow the evening to end with a hoot and a holler. Consider the macabrely charming concept that there are organizations that specialize in resolving male vs. female partnership issues including fulfilling a contract for murder. That is the premise of My Better Half . So it is with Anne (Rebecca Pingree) who wishes to ‘do in’ her significant other Dave ((Will Dao). Charles (Jomar Tagatac) cons her into giving more time to consoling. That brings in counselor Marilyn (Anne Darragh) who has her own agenda and poor Anna gets shafted. Beware of what you wish for??
Symmetrical Smack-Down wins the brass ring and is ready for a trip to the Ten-Minute play writing contest offered by the Humana New American Play Festival in Louisville. Everyone knows that professional wrestling is theatre and make-believe. What happens if it becomes real? Take that question and add a Lesbian couple who play the ‘what-if-make-believe game’ about breaking up and the women are daughters of the wrestlers. Of course the wrestlers take sides. William Bevins is extremely clever in his use of dialog and director Jim Kleinmann moves the characters around the ring adroitly. Did I mention that all the action takes place inside a wrestling ring? It does and costumes for wrestler Napalm (Jomar Tagatac) and El Chupacabro (Dodds Delzell) are hilarious.
The audience filed out of the intimate Thick House Theatre with satisfied chuckles.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetrmagazine.com
