Adam Wasser, Leticia Carrasco, Dorian Frankel and Shawn Plunkett (Photo courtesy of Write Act Repertory)
Reviewed by Martín Hernández
The Brickhouse Theatre
Through June 1
RECOMMENDED
This quintet of breezy and light-hearted one-act plays from Write Act Repertory highlights romance, redemption, and regeneration, sometimes all in the same play. Underlying the wry humor in each piece is some sage advice for the young, the old, and anyone in between.
Jorge A. Pulido’s “A Side of Karma,” directed by Alicia Marie Agramonte, opens with a serene Maggie (Mary Nakanishi) seated in a posh bistro as her spouse Spencer (Matt Rousel) paces nervously in a hallway behind her. The shaky state of their marriage is revealed as soon as he joins her, though it seems news to Maggie. Meanwhile, their officious waiter (Oraldo Austin) cringes at Maggie’s questions regarding the menu, warning her about the restaurant’s bizarre protocols. When Jaclyn (Annie Zhang), who has a hazy relationship to the bickering couple, takes space at a nearby table —xq on which sits a cryptic hourglass — all four engage in a hilarious Beckett-like roundelay.
Four single and longtime platonic friends contemplate aging in Thomas J. Misuraca’s “Burn and Rave,” directed by Susen Eiden. Lillian (Dorian Frankel) celebrates her upcoming retirement with Gerard (Adam Wasser) and Marsha (understudy Yvette Price) and Brent (Shawn Plunkett) at their weekly dinner party. When the conversation turns to AARP, elder discounts, and sundry ailments, however, Brent is loath to enroll in their embrace of old age. As the others pepper Brent with excuses as he desperately recruits them to recapture their adventurous youth, the question becomes: Will they join in or stick to their boring yet secure senior citizen mindset?
Directed by Anne Mesa, Rochelle Perry’s “Velma and Manny” is a curious take on modern love as an inseparable pair encounters a potential fork in the road. Velma (Courtney South) is human, and while her bestie Manny is not, she still depends on him for relationship advice. While on a blind date with Dennis (Taylor Dam), Velma introduces him to her unconventional bestie, putting already ill-at-ease Dennis further on edge. While Velma truly wants a healthy relationship, Manny’s advice may sink any chance of one. South’s Velma and Dam’s Dennis make for a quirky but sweet pairing and the actors’ comic timing is delightful.
Susan C. Hunter’s “Love in Flight,” directed by Roxie Lee, presents Raven (Austin) and Thrush (Zhang), two disparate birds who quarrel over who has dibs on a branch on which to perch. Both await the arrival of their “humans” — Webster (Dam), a researcher studying Raven, and Melody (Nakanishi), a bird watcher entranced with Thrush. As people do, Webster and Melody misinterpret their avian subjects’ behavior, annoying both animals, but that error also mirrors the confusion Webster and Melody have of each other.
In Darrin Yalacki’s and Tomek Flor’s witty and poignant musical “Spring Fever,” directed by Yalacki, Jamie (South) is a barista while Alex (Roussel) works in a floral shop next door. The opening has them cross paths a few times, but their mutual tentativeness keeps them from meeting. When they do, Alex’s awkwardness leads him to sing about that particular foible and others that wreck his romantic life. Jamie has had her own issues since a “recent” breakup and sings about them also, then entreats Alex into a quaint pas de deux, choreographed by Misty West and performed to the violin work of Brandon Encinas. Jamie and Alex just may find harmony together, attesting to the ephemeral — and eventually bothersome — background vocals that, “it’s that time of year, there’s something in the air.”
Write Act Repertory @ the Brickhouse Theatre, 10950 Peach Grove St., N. Hollywood.; Fri.-Sat., 7:30 pm, Sun., 3 pm; dark Memorial Day weekend; thru June 1. https://writeofspring.brownpapertickets.com Running time 70 minutes with a ten-minute intermission.
