Summer Shorts: Series A

C

The 13th season of this Festival of New American Short Plays is now underway at 59E59 Theater B. The three plays in Series A all involve death or the threat thereof. The first and strongest play, “Interior” by Nick Payne (Constellations, A Life), is an evocative adaptation of Maeterlinck's play. An old man (Bill Buell; Ink, Rancho Viejo) and a stranger (Jordan Bellow; New Here) who have found the body of a drowned girl stand outside her home, observing her family enjoying their final moments of happiness before they must inform them of her death. Buell gives a strong leading performance as the old man whose daughters Martha (Joanna Whicker) and Marie (Mariah Lee; I’m Sorry) also put in an appearance. The mood is greatly enhanced by artful projections of paintings by Sharon Holiner. Rory McGregor’s (Sea Wall/A Life) direction is sensitive. “The Bridge Play,” by Danielle Trzcinski (Little Black Dress!), portrays the mostly comical interaction between John (James P. Rees; The Killer) a depressed middle-aged man about to jump off a bridge and Alex (Christopher Dylan White; The Workshop), the social-media-addicted teenager who interrupts him. It scores some easy points but lacks any real sense of peril. Sarah Cronk directed. In “Here I Lie,” Courtney Baron (When It’s You) presents two overlapping monologues. In one, Maris (Libe Barer), a publishing assistant, on a sudden impulse, tells her boss she has terminal cancer, and then feels obligated to follow her lie to its logical conclusion. In the other, Joseph (Robbie Tann; Home Street Home), a pediatric nurse, becomes emotionally involved with a very sick preemie and ends up craving similarly tender care for himself. The two narrators ignore and interrupt each other, which quickly became tedious. While both stories are interesting, I did not think they were well-matched and the manner of telling them simultaneously diminished rather than enhanced them. I personally would have preferred being presented with just one of them. While this playwright’s technique was perhaps the most ambitious, it did not work for me. Maria Mileaf (After the Wedding) directed. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Feeding the Dragon

B

Primary Stages is presenting the New York premiere of this one-person show, written and performed by Sharon Washington (Luce, The Scottsboro Boys), about a little girl who lived in a library. The little girl was Ms. Washington who, for four years, lived in an apartment on the top floor of the St. Agnes Branch of the New York Public Library, where her father was the custodian. In the early scenes, during which she describes her life above the library, the tone is light. She vividly impersonates several characters including her mother, a born and bred New Yorker, and her father, who was raised in South Carolina. She has a close relationship with her father until a family crisis arises. She is temporarily sent to live with an aunt and uncle, whom she vividly recreates. Later, she takes a road trip with her father to visit his family and discovers how different a life he had in the South. She continues the story of her subsequent life and how it was shaped by the stories she has shared with us. There are hints of outside events, but she concentrates on the personal. The title refers to the library’s coal furnace with an insatiable appetite for coal, but also represents the other dragons in life that must be fed. Ms. Washington has a very ingratiating personality and is a skilled storyteller and impersonator. The polished production benefits greatly from an attractive stepped set by Tony Ferrieri that incorporates library books and card catalog drawers in the risers. The large multi-paned back windows, lit by Ann G, Wrightson, magically change color as the moment requires. Maria Mileaf (A Body of Water) directs with a light touch. It all added up to a low-key pleasure. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.