From the downright silly to absurdist sophistry the virtual Short Attention Span Theatre may be just the thing to take your mind off COVID-19 and presidential politics for about an hour and a quarter through half a dozen plays that won’t capture any Tony Awards–even virtual ones.
First up is “Job Interview,” written by Howard Mesick and directed by Nic Carter, in which a psychotic Romanian neurologist played by wild-haired Brian Whitaker seeks work as a burger flipper for which the exasperated young woman interrogating him (Shannon Whitaker) declares him all but unemployable.
Rich Pauli’s “Act Now!” directed by Zachary Ryan and starring sad-sack Dan Guidice and imperious Hester Sachse involves a high-pressured sales pitch to a loser who is promised never to “experience a negative emotion” again. All he has to do is forfeit his eternal soul. To which he just shrugs as if to ask, “What do I need a soul for?” To my taste, “Act Now!” is a bit too depressing to spend even 10 minutes considering.
“A Room of My Own” by Michael Collins and directed by Jennifer Kafka Smith may strike a chord with Zoom-prone parents who find themselves spending way too much time alone with their young children due to COVID-driven homebound schooling. Vikki, Doris and Barb (Lucia Foster, Kelly Young and Amanda Fry) are sisters handling their stay-at-home lives in far different ways. Vikki, up to her ears in child-caring, has barricaded herself in a makeshift fort she constructed, while big sister Doris mostly swills wine and middle sis Barb has retreated to a tree-house.
“Epistemology” by Garfield artistic director Steven Arnold, who also directs this relentless play on words, pivots on a Zoom conversation between Nik Carter and Dylan Lyles punctuated by smart-alec dictionary-definition gag lines that sometimes deliver, sometimes bomb but mostly deliver a sly and subtle punch.
A black-and-white dark comedy, “The Tea Drinkers,” written and directed by Mark Sullivan, features a pair of stuffy teabag snobs, Marsha and Agatha, who are so suspicious of each other that they confess to developing an immunity to a poison they suspect the other will use on them. Connie Fallon and Francoise Sullivan display an amusingly arch mutual contempt, while Robbie Spray as the tea waiter, delivers the drop-dead punchline.
“Two Broody Hens,” by Rich Pauli and directed by Jennifer Kafka Smith, Zooms in on a clucking conversation between Jen Friedman as Eunice and Melissa McGlynn as Theodora trading cliched lines about crossing the road to get to the other side. A rooster, Randy, of course, played by John Mann, commands them to lay artisanal eggs and bow to his red-combed masculinity. But these hens will not be pecked so easily. Amusing, but not necessarily a barn-burner.
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN THEATRE 2020. The 15th annual festival of 10-minute plays streaming online for $10 (or a larger donation) through Sept. 27. Click on garfieldcenter.org to purchase home-viewing tickets. The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre on High Street in Chestertown is closed due to the pandemic. 410-810-2060.
Steve Parks is a retired arts critic and editor now living in Easton.
Francoise Sullivan (aka Marsha) says
The Garfield Center and SAST actors, directors and crew worked hard to put together original entertainment featuring the amazing talents of your friends and neighbors in the 2020 virtual production of Short Attention Span Theatre! Support your local arts and artists and help keep the arts alive!
SOME INTERESTING PRODUCTION FACTS:
Social-distanced filming:
– In almost all cases, actors and their Director were never in the same room together during filming – exceptions were those who have been quarantining together
– Proximity between performers was achieved via Zoom and by editing together separately-submitted footage.
– Separated performances required thought and execution regarding props that exchanged hands and other physical moments that were to occur between characters, including creating the presumption that the characters were in the same space. These moments were achieved via production assistants on hand in each separate location and made as seamless as possible through the editing process.
Also, this is the first time in SAST history where all productions are locally written.
Steven Arnold, Executive Director, Garfield Center for the Arts says
The Garfield Center is incredibly grateful for the amazing talent and dedication from the volunteers who contributed their time and effort to Short Attention Span Theatre. We are also extremely pleased and humbled by the overwhelming enthusiastic and positive feedback we have received from the SAST ticket-buying public. Thank you!
This experience has been a massive learning opportunity for all of us. With absolutely no past experience or training in filmmaking and editing techniques, this group of entertainers, all experienced in stage performance, decided to dig in, teach ourselves how to produce a video-driven, online program and make it an absolutely wonderful and welcome addition to the long history of excellence SAST is known for.
The response has been huge! Word of mouth has not only proven the program to be an artistic success, new and daily ticket purchases are helping to push us way past revenue expectations. For these reasons, we are excited to announce that WE HAVE ADDED AN ADDITIONAL WEEK OF VIEWING by extending the online availability of SAST until October 4th!
Again, thank you GCA volunteers, our community and viewers from Chestertown, Kent County and beyond for your support!
Carla Massoni says
I miss Pete Howell. Community theater is “community” theater! “Community Theater” during Covid 19 is a new construct altogether. Art is essential.
I am so proud of the way our “community” has come together to find new ways to share creatively. I can only guess that Steve has not been covering the Garfield for long….pandemics do put a damper on that!! But the interesting part of a review might have included the production aspect and the challenges faced in producing work literally offsite. My dear friend Pete Howell always got the “community” part of community theater. The Garfield will be back in the theater – hopefully in 2021. I am sure they will welcome Steve Parks back and introduce him to the heart and soul of our theater – our incredible community!!