Review: The Best and the Rest of SPECTRUM 2026 at First Run Theatre

With new play festivals it is common to have a couple of entrants that exceed expectations. The one or two exceptional scripts shine through despite wooden performances by newer actors honing their craft.

This year’s Spectrum 2026, produced by First Run Theatre, was unique in both the number of quality entrants and the fine performances from the troupe of talented actors. The six-play festival featured four wittily written plays that stood on their own. Two were flat-out funny, one was a bit macabre, and Tortured Poets Department was beyond charming.

Directors Shahnaz Ahmed and Jude Hagene cast 11 gifted actors who gave inspired performances to enhance the playwright's efforts. The biggest surprise of the evening was the immense chemistry between cast mates Joy Christina Turner and Matt Anderson. The actors amused in two different plays as a dating couple and co-workers hanging fine art in a museum gallery

Turner had impressed previously in a turn as Prospero with St. Louis Shakespeare’s TourCo production of the Tempest. Spectrum 2026 gave her an opportunity to show her comedic chops. She was unrecognizable in her two lighthearted roles in Double Date and Better than Meta, showing immense versatility and talent.

Anderson also showed exceptional range in his three roles as John Lennon, a man dating multiple women, and an art gallery handyman. For the parts, Anderson took on French, British, New York accents – all of which he did very well. His timing was spot on and his ability to don many different characters across multiple plays was admirable. Anderson has worked a handful of times in recent years, but the portrayals that Ahmed and Hagene inspired could be called revelatory.

Anderson’s turn as John Lennon with Gretta Forrester as Emily Dickinson, Lauren Rolf as Sylvia Plath, and Garrett Bergfeld as William Shakespeare delighted in Mike McGeever’s Tortured Poets Department. McGeever’s endearing script features the deceased poets fielding phone calls and questions from Swifties trying to reach the beloved songwriting pop star. Their quips were witty references to their classic works while encouraging aspiring artists to follow their dreams. McGeever’s play was fun and smart, making some of the world’s best known writers accessible and lovable. It was a personal favorite among this year’s staged selections.

Marjorie Williamson’s scripts always have a few unexpected twists. Her new play, Human Remains, has a couple of Williamson’s twisty signature nuggets. The story is a bit more macabre than her earlier works that have been staged by First Run. Seems Williamson, like screenwriters Jordan Peele and M. Night Shyamalan, has a spectral flair. The slightly creepy Human Remains entertained.

Two laugh-out-loud comedies by Carl Maronich and Bradford Slavic relied on realistic banter and the authentic performances of Anderson and Turner. Maronich’s Better than Meta followed two bickering workers in a museum gallery. Thomas (Anderson) and Mason (Turner) can finish each other sentences after working together for a decade, but rarely do the two agree on anything. Hagene, the director, paced the dialogue to keep the quick-witted conversation clipping along while relying on the natural chemistry between Anderson and Turner. The results were a riot.

Slavik’s Double Date observed what would happen if two friends were dating the same guy. Anderson flips back and forth between two characters, one a bit dim, and the other a Frenchman with an exaggerated accent. It is amusing to watch how the two women come to terms with their remarkably similar boyfriends. Slavik’s script and his plot concept is amusing and clever.

The other two entrants, A Rose by Any Other Name and A Cure for AIDS: 1995, showed promise but were less engaging than the four previously mentioned gems. A Rose by Any Other Name’s dialogue felt a bit contrived. The story is a much too lengthy set up for a single punch line.

The plot for A Cure For AIDS: 1995 seems a bit implausible, asking the audience to take an unlikely leap. It was difficult to discern if it was a tale of survivor’s guilt, or a story of a man who is coming to terms with his actions from decades ago. It is talky, overwrought, too long, and lacks the clarity it needs to provide an emotional connection to the anti-hero protagonist.

Spectrum 2026 closed on Sunday, March 8, 2026. Visit the First Run Theatre website for more information about their upcoming reading festival where they select the two full-length plays that will be produced in the fall.