Doug Harris as Henry, Maya Loren Jackson as Jackie; photo: David Dashiell

        There isn't enough space in a review to fully chat about all ten plays. So the more unusual grab the space. Speed Play by Alex Dremann is one of those. Two people on their lunch hours meet to improvise the characters and plots of short plays. The imaginations of Jackie and Harry are baffling and beguiling. In the same way their relationship confounds us. Both Doug Harris and Maya Loren Jackson do great work under the direction of Matthew Penn who keeps the simplicity of joy both at bay and at large - not an easy task. Harris is equally wonderful in the play that comes before this one: A Dateless Bargain with Engrossing Death by John Minigan. Here he plays a man challenged by an old college acquaintance who wants, or demands, he take on a technical task that will keep him alive and out of Hell. His challenger is played by Neely who adopts a slick and resilient persona unlike anything else he has done in this show.

        Both men played almost unwitting suitors in Ellen Abrams play Lizzie Borden Gets Engaged. The title character is played with delicious and curious physicality by Keri Safran as directed by Julianne Boyd. One of the silliest plays in the group, the director has used subtle movement and miniature props to keep us alert to Lizzie's oddities. Still it is Safran who adds elements of tightly held madness to her less than subtle characterization of a classic New England maiden lady, a reluctant spinster.

        The collection ends in early November of the year,  two months before Christmas. An election is in process and Chester's wife is doing well and he wants her to win for various reasons. She is almost the central character, though we never see her (I think Peggy Pharr Wilson is in the next room, actually; at least I sense her there). This is Jessica Provenz's play On the Rocks where canabis, brownies and dry ice are among the topics discussed. This very active four-character play is the token family drama in the group.  For a serious work, it is a laugh riot and it did make me a bit sad not to be able to hear audience reaction to Provenz and Boyd's collaboration.  Robert Zukerman as the pot-inclined patriarch is simply exemplary. It is his play, to be sure although each person, especially Safran, has a moment that quite simply explodes on the stage. 

Zukerman almost steals away with Christine Foster's Blind Larks also as one of four people trapped in a cave implosion. Penn has directed this as four talking heads magnificently lit by Scott Pinkney. The story is a simple one not to be exposed here; it must be come by slowly and gradually. A humane drama about a dog it deceptively reveals the flaws and foibles of people in a disaster. Uncredited Neely and Harris appear near the end. On stage, dimly lit, are Safran, Jackson, and Wilson as his undiminished companions.