Review: AN EVENING OF ONE ACTS 2022 at Ridgefield Theater Barn

Every year, one of my favorite annual theater traditions is seeing the evening of one acts at the Ridgefield Theater Barn, in Ridgefield, CT. I had the pleasure of continuing that wonderful tradition on Friday, March 18, with AN EVENING OF ONE ACTS 2022 which continues with the consistent first-rate shows and performances I have come to expect and enjoy every year. This show contains seven one acts, mostly with a comedic tone.

Something that really stood out this year is the wonderful sound effects provided by sound designer Jose Alvez. Whether they were sea sounds, bird sounds, train sounds, or even department store muzak, they enhanced the show tremendously!

The show opens with a short called The Voyage which is written by Joe Carlisle and directed by Brian DeToma. A brilliant comedic dichotomy is set up between a ship passenger named Stephanie who is brilliantly performed by Roberta Robinson and a crewman excellently performed by Rob Hunt who makes the perfect straight-laced counterpart to Stephanie who is either senile or just plain crazy, hilarious either way. She is constantly complaining that there is too much water out at sea, while the crewman keeps his professionalism, as if she has a valid gripe. The comedic dynamics between Roberta Robinson and Rob Hunt sell this short well, as you simultaneously feel for the crewman, yet find the ordeal he is going through comical, and in some ways even relatable if you've ever needed to remain professional in the presence of a certifiable whacko.

The following short is called Third Window from the Right, which is written by Scott Mullen and directed by Linda Seay. It is an amusing story of a man named Henry who CJ Sequeria excellently portrays with the perfect deliberate blend of confidence and social awkwardness. Henry is a writer who has been in his apartment, using binoculars to observe the same woman eating lunch in the park, alone, at the same time each weekday.

He imagined her voice and personality, and wrote about romance between her and a character he based on himself. After his writing wins a contest, he decides to try sitting next to her and striking up a conversation, which is where this short begins. Benna Strober is convincing in the role of Kate, the woman Henry has been watching. As he talks to her and explains the aforementioned exposition, rather than being creeped out, as she should be, she instead takes an attitude that leads more towards intrigue with him. This makes for a fascinating premise, one that could even be the pilot for a sitcom.

The next short is appropriately called The Spoiler. Written by Linda Bidwell Delaney, and directed by Chris Ceponis, this short stars three talented performers who include Joshua Adelson and Emily Volpintesta as a young dating couple, and Elayne Gordon as an antagonist named Audrey. Set in a coffee shop, Audrey starts minding the business of the young couple in a deliberately obnoxious manner. Nevertheless, the couple is willing to pay her to use her self-claimed psychic powers to tell them about their future. To warn anyone who has either never seen Citizen Kane or The Sixth Sense, yet plans to someday, Audrey's character blurts out major movie-revealing spoilers on both. I was very grateful that I had previously seen them both, so for me, it was highly entertaining. It was also relatable in the sense that I had someone reveal a major spoiler of a movie to me, in the morning of the day I planned to see it, since he had managed to catch a sneak preview on the night before opening night.

My favorite of the shorts was definitely Face Time written by Donna Hoke and directed by Craig David Rosen. This stars The Theater Barn's own Pamme Jones, along with Kristin Aug who have incredibly tight stage chemistry as they respectively portray Angela and Kelly, two former high school classmates. Despite not having attended high school during a time of social media, they are now, as adult women, both obsessed with social media on their phones. Unplanned, they meet up with each other on a slow moving customer service line in a department store. While they ask each other about their lives, they both kind of know what each others' answers are going to be, since they post and follow these things on social media.

It is clear that they were casual acquaintances, at best, and that Angela didn't truly have any interest in wanting to know any more about Kelly in any great detail. This short, while very comedic, also has a very real feel to it, relatable when they started talking about how they remained in touch with whoever they wanted to be in touch with, which made their failure to stay in touch with each other somewhat awkward to be discussing with each other, yet humorously authentic. It indirectly also somewhat touches on the sad reality of how social media has largely stolen the excitement, intrigue, and mystique from high school reunions, and has ultimately decreased the interest in many people's desire to even attend them.

Survival Strategy is also written by Donna Hoke and is directed by Mark Hankla. It features excellent acting performances by Bonnie Rose and Bill Warncke. They play coworkers who are both married to other people, yet are in the very early stages of an affair with each other. They show pathetic rationalizing and lame excuses in their denial of how outright wrong their unkind words regarding their spouses are, and how disgustingly inappropriate and wrong their hugging of each other is, in the context by which it exists, which is using another person for a form of physical affection that they feel they are not getting from their respective spouses. The evil of their actions is further magnified by the fact that they are simultaneously having an emotional affair with each other, yet refusing to see just how wrong their relationship is. My take is that this short is trying to expose the folly of those who try to rationalize bad decisions that are rooted in emotion .

Al with Meatballs is a comedy written by Joe Carlisle and directed by David Fritsch. Extremely talented actors Aaron Kaplan, Joshua Adelson, and Tim Brandt bring this story to life with their comedic deliveries, mannerisms, and dynamics. Like in The Voyage, Joe Carlisle uses characterization and chemistry between characters to drive strong comedy. It works, again, on this short.

The final short is Scarsdale which is written by Kate Katcher and directed by Nancy Ponturo. This one is a comedic drama set on a train on the Metro-North Harlem Line to New York. Jennifer Hankla plays an angry woman who takes her anger out on a man played by Robert Hunt, who is interested in a newspaper that he believes is hers. As they get to talking, the genre effectively shifts from comedy to drama, while the audience generates more sympathy for the woman who initially comes across as very antagonistic.

The writing has depth, as do the excellent performances by Jennifer Hankla and Robert Hunt.

For mature audiences, I highly recommend AN EVENING OF ONE ACTS 2022 which is scheduled to continue to run through April 2, 2022. For times and tickets, please go to https://ridgefieldtheaterbarn.org/.

To post a comment, you must register and login.