Alliance Repertory stages an evening of eight short pieces.
By: Stuart Duncan
While it continues its peripatetic wanderings to find a permanent theater site, the Alliance Repertory Theatre Company is happy to accept invitations to stop in, even for brief periods, at alternative spots. The Villagers had two open weeks in its Black Box space, so the repertory company is staging what is being called The Comedy Café or Friends. Take your pick.
It is an evening of eight short pieces, some amusing, some provocative, none dull. It is a good opportunity to show off talent, both of actors and directors. It’s fun for the audiences, too.
We begin with a pair of potato peelers, presumably in a restaurant basement, with bags of potatoes ready for the paring knives. One is clearly a novice, somewhat unprepared for the pace needed to really achieve; the other is a real pro and has the plaque on the wall, next to the executive bathroom, to prove it. Of course we can expect to have changes in this set-up and we get it in spuds.
This is followed by a piece written especially for the troupe by Joel Stone and expertly acted by Jerry Marino and J.C. Gibriano. The duo play fisherman in a small rowboat on a fully stocked lake, on a morning when the fish are not biting, but the wind is.
And so we go a short piece by John Patrick Shanley, the only author whom you may recognize by name, about a young lad who is smitten by a mermaid who lives in the lake in Central Park.
A nifty monologue, titled The Night I Spent With Elvis, is directed by the aforementioned Joel Stone and acted nicely by Angela Della Ventura, complete with hair with "unassisted bounce."
By the finale we are ready for a real ta-bum ending, involving a couple, each wearing half of a Santa suit and putting the finishing touches on an office holiday party.
Among the actors not yet mentioned were: Peter Schuyler and Jack Reiling; James Fiorello and Jaime Kimberlin; Jay Leibowitz and Jeff Streger; Tracy Fama and Rich Sibello. The directors include: Cynthia Wiese, Mike Driscoll, Jay Leibowitz, Jeff Streger and Rich Baker.
A Comedy Café plays at The Villagers, 475 Demott Lane, Somerset, through Dec. 22. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10. For information, call (723) 873-2710. On the Web: www.villagerstheatre.com