Village Playhouse’s 31st Annual Original One Act Play Festival for Wisconsin Playwrights produced a strong showing of six new works chosen from 39 submissions. Like most one-act festivals, some links are stronger than others, some pieces more polished, some ideas more fully developed, but the overall experience is a positive one.
Mike Willis’ Ya Want Fries With That?, directed by Larry Beckley, explores the relevant idea of how difficult it is to get what you really want—and even clear communication—in a world driven by consumerism. The concept’s execution is somewhat tiresome, however, as we watch a man (the believably frustrated Paul Pfannenstiel) attempt to order dinner eight different times as the restaurant changes management, style and name in rapid succession, and two servers (the amusing Donna McMaster and Paul Weir) contradict one another’s work. It begs the question, why doesn’t the customer just leave the farce?
Who Pays the Shark?, written by Jon Kolb and directed by Ray Bradford, is an intriguing crime drama ably performed by McMaster, Scott Sorensen and Paul Young. Aside from a few awkward staging transitions, this piece carried well on the script’s astute exploration of antiquated gender roles and the compounding nature of suspicion, lies and gambling debt.
Marjorie Pagel’s one-woman show, Presumed Guilty, directed by Alan Piotrowicz and brilliantly performed by Keighley Sadler, was one of the night’s highest points. The only possible fault is in the script’s lack of suspense in revealing its protagonist’s secrets. This is perhaps immaterial, though, as the point seems to be Pagel and Sadler’s stunning portrait of a master pretender—calm, humorous and quite chilling.
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Nick Shweitzer’s Shakespeare and Company is the festival’s salute to glorious nerdiness. Here we’re treated to a behind-the-scenes look at William Shakespeare and his actors rehearsing Romeo and Juliet and squabbling with their patron. We see up close the improvisational and conversational processes that likely did underpin the works too many attribute to just one great mind. Comedy makes a welcome appearance as familiar lines from R&J come to fruition through the painful adolescence of first drafts. Standout performances come from Weir as the drunken but fine leading man, Dick Burbage, and Scott Kopischke as the Bard—believably full of wonder as the great play’s dialogue materializes around him and arresting in the depth of his prescient observations of society.
Scott Sorensen’s What About The Baby?, directed by Abby Stein, puts us in a room with three people undergoing different large life transitions and periods of stress and self-reflection. There is an absence of through line, giving the piece the feel of a first act from a longer play. The dialogue is among the most realistic and human of all pieces in the festival. Caitlin Weiss, Derek Lobacz and Paul Zaragoza are warm and natural in their characterizations of adults who, despite their separate struggles, come together in love and support: an optimistic slice of life.
Wisely chosen as the closing act, Michelle A. Demos’ The Fourth Wall, directed by Joan Williamson, shines as the festival’s best-in-show. The premise is exquisite—both surreal and emotionally accessible. The performances from Tina Nixon, Nicole Allee, Jan Pogodzinski and Joyce Radtke are impeccable. This gem leaves us to ponder one of the great questions of theater and life: Can love empower us to break through our illusions?
Village Playhouse’s One Act Play Festival runs through June 19 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St. For tickets, call 414-207-4879 or visit villageplayhouse.org.
