Flash theater is the theme of the 2024 Go To New Play Fest. Flash theater contains a plot, climax, and denouement similar to flash fiction but the impact is more immediate—when it hits the target. The fest features seven plays by three playwrights, directed by three directors over 80 minutes. Some popped and some fell a little flat and could have been even briefer, but it was worth the time spent. The fest is titled Known Destinations With Unknown Destinies.
Playwright Darren Canady's play Tum Tum and Mabel is directed by Rachel Slavick, and Let It Sear, Blister, and Burn directed by Justice Ford. Tum Tum and Mabel does not mine enough of the comic possibilities from the situation. Hez (Harold Lloyd) and Jackie (Michael Stejskal) play a gay couple about to move into a new home together. They both have issues from childhood that have not been resolved in ways central to the plot. It's about expectations and sacrifice, but should have used the mother-in-law trope more.
Let It Sear, Blister, and Burn is a brilliant blend of writing, acting, and directing. Mama (Alexandria Moorman) and Gwen (Alexis Primus) play mother and daughter navigating grief and the relics of violent loss through the eyes of Black women. The need to freeze the time before a tragedy is not hindsight but a means to keep moving—one foot in front of the other. Canady's script captures a fact of life if one is "living while Black" in America. Director Justice Ford keeps the action and pacing taut creating a veil of heaviness.
Playwright Stuart A. Day wrote Talk, directed by Justice Ford, and Bounce!, directed by Rachel Slavik. Talk is a New York story set near Times Square, which is still a bit of a freak show despite the attempt at making it family-friendly. Julia Zuniga plays the Statue of Liberty standing on a box, and Patrick Zielinski plays Hank who is determined to break Liberty's silence and composure. It is a humorous look at street performance and the people performing to make them break character. Liberty turning the tables on Hank feels awkward and puts a kink in the visual metaphor.
I did not relate to Bounce! as comedy, philosophy, or drama. Rachel Slavick directs a conversation between Jane (Annie Calhoun) and James (Ian Deanes), discussing a child who may or may not exist. The fast-moving dialogue is interspersed with some impressive juggling by Calhoun. If the intention is to be ambiguous about women and the decision to have a child while juggling a career, it succeeded. In my opinion, the metaphor is clunky even though the juggling was not.
Playwright Douglas Post gives the audience the most laughs with a triptych of shorts about an unfortunately named airline. Scott Westerman directs F.U. Air, Number 163, and A Passenger's Bill of Rights with a deft touch for unhinged comedy. Print ads and commercials suggest a luxury experience while cruising in the sky at 10,000 feet. In reality, it can be a slog of breathing other people's breath and possibly sitting next to an emotional support peacock. F.U. Air features flight attendant Hattie (Annie Hogan) talking the passengers through a delay on the tarmac while waiting to take off. Hogan has great comic timing and the outbursts of truth about her employer hit home. The in-flight purchases rang true. If I have to pay for wifi, how long will it be before the toilets require a credit card and pretzels are sold individually?
Trell Winters plays Ferguson in Number 163 trying to get someone to drop out from a deliberately overbooked flight. The perks range from a hotel to a bikini wax and three suitcases of money. Winters has standup timing and the more ridiculous the perks get the funnier he is.
A Passenger's Bill of Rights is a great satire of the executives and boards behind F.U. Airlines. Tricia Rogers hits the spot as an executive presenting how F/U. Airlines will make more money with less service. There is an inspired line about Schroedinger's Ford Pinto and other Mad Magazine style spoofs of corporate greed. It's a good way to end the show on a high point.
I recommend Go To New Play Fest for its brevity and balance of comedy and pathos. The plays are equal in length but some could be a few minutes shorter and get the point across. Go To New Play Fest runs 80 minutes with no intermission. The performances are only through Sunday, September 29, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. For tickets and more information, please visit www.theaterwit.org/tickets/productions/527/performances or www.gotoproductions.org
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