It’s one-act time again at the Vortex Theatre.
In an annual competition, the Vortex selected from nationally submitted works (more than 200 this year alone) to show the eight best in a celebratory exhibition of playwriting talents.
The entire showcase is called “Don’t Blink,” and each 10-minute act boasts a local director. To boot, audience members get to vote on their favorite, and the winning playwright wins $250.
This shows the vital interplay of elements when putting together a show; while the writing can be good, poor directing or acting will bring a show down. On the same note, a brilliant director can find value in even the sloppiest scripts or the most unconfident actor.
The eight 10-minute plays are split into two acts of four plays, intermission and then the final four.
The last four are stronger than the first in every conceivable way, and the Vortex probably designed the lineup this way.
First is “The Skewed Picture,” by Andrew Biss, where a couple sitting in an apartment discusses comedic “Twilight Zone” stuff about an existential audience watching their lives. It’s a little trite and without any new or interesting humor beyond gleeful jabbing of the fourth wall. The characters grow on you, and the play is at least passable.
Up second: “Remembering Peter Christopher” by John A. Donnelly.
This play revolves around that good-old dramatic standard of Catholic priests molesting (or maybe not molesting) young boys.
Ruben Muller plays Father Jim beautifully, giving life to an otherwise confused script. The falling action of the piece is long, and the dialogue following the plot twist is empty and pointless.
The third piece, “Triple Sec,” by Jack Rushton, is the most bland of the one-acts, and it involves a woman’s musing at online dating with her gay best friend. There is little value in this play, from the hackneyed scenario to the flat characters and nonexistent tension.
Luckily, the best of the first act comes last.
“Misfortune” by Mark Levine kicks the showcase back into form, with a light comedy about a date gone awry as the fortune cookie fortune received by one of the characters states that the person he has just had dinner with will kill him.
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Theodore Jackson and Katie Farmin are wonderful as the dating couple.
The script is fast-paced and genuinely funny, using its short time frame to its fullest extent. It makes all the best comedic decisions, looking forward to new jokes rather than allowing the simple concept to collapse in on itself.
Luckily, it’s all up from here.
After intermission, you are greeted again by Theodore Jackson hilariously outdoing himself in “That Which Doesn’t Kill Us” by James McLindon.
This is a clever, marvelous little piece about a person dealing with devastating personal computer issues. Jackson plays the Zen Buddha-like techno guru. Jackson sets yoga poses and waves his hand in front of his Barbie laptop to transmit words of wisdom to our identifiable protagonist.
Next is “No Sugar” by Philip Hall.
Ruben Muller is back, but plays a trucker at a dinner with Margie Maes as his waitress. The script is cute with both actors performing splendidly. Maes offers a psychotic cheerfulness to the archetypical waitress calling you “sug” and trying to force-feed you pie and doughnuts.
It’s the last two plays that really stand above the rest, however.
“Out from Under with Mary” by Chris Shaw Swanson is the most incredible piece of theater to be seen at the Vortex in ages. The script is interesting and able enough, but the true point of focus is with the performance of Teddy Eggleston as Mary. She is stunning, a dreadful realism and an effortless characterization that makes it easy to forget you’re watching a performance.
Laura Mathis plays opposite her as Diane, doing brilliant work herself.
Last is “Birthday Escape” by Dale Griffiths-Stamos. This is probably the best-written one-act, though it’s missing Eggleston’s talent. Ray Orley and Brian Haney give some of the best performances of the entire show, giving heart and sympathy to forgotten lives and deadbeat sons.
“Don’t Blink” is a simple and clever formula for the Vortex to use, allowing for new material with no copyright costs for performance lengths. It’s a mixed bag to be sure, but the gifts you find sifted to the top are unmistakable.
