Review: 3X3 FESTIVAL: TRU begins the Festival with Flair at Brookfield Theater Of The Arts

There is so much more to Theatre than just musicals and full-length plays. Two hours of song and dance and 90 minutes of spoken drama feels like the standard for community theater, but there are so many more formats that are equally valid, entertaining, and worth producing; From new, experimental work to rapid fire, ten-minute plays to page-long monologues. Another format that deserves more recognition is the solo show. For a single actor to stand on that stage and create a work of art by themselves is bold and can be just as thrilling as a 30-person dance ensemble.

That is one of the reasons why I love to visit the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts: They have their musicals and their full cast shows, but they also dedicate time to exploring these other forms. Their current production, the 3 x 3 Festival, brings together 3 Actors performing 3 Plays over the course of 3 Weekends and it gives audiences a taste of something different that allows the talent in Brookfield to shine bright. Their festival starts with Tru, by Jay Presson Allen and is followed by How I Learned What I Learned, by August Wilson and Todd Kriedler, before wrapping up with Enda Walsh’s misterman.

I was able to see the opening show, Tru, last weekend, and it made me sad only because I knew that, by the time this review came out, it would be too late for others to see it. It did, however, fill me with confidence knowing that there were going to be two more amazing shows following right on its heels. Tru, directed by and starring Don Stitt, follows novelist and screenwriter, Truman Capote, during Christmas Time in 1975, just after the release of a few chapters of “Unanswered Prayers,” a novel-in-progress surrounding the behind-the-scenes lives of the upper class. With a lot of exposition to give the audience, Jay Presson Allen does a phenomenal job of presenting that information to an audience without it feeling overbearing and boring, while Stitt does a delightful job of doing so with flair as he brings Capote’s personality to life. Despite being the only actor on stage, Stitt made the time fly by as he regaled the audience with stories and gossip of the upper classes private lives, while also exposing his own doubts and insecurities that have only been exacerbated by those he considered friends whom ostracized him following the novel sneak peek.

Up next is Wilson and Kreidler’s How I Learned What I Learned, directed by Rae Janeil and starring Jeramie Gladman from October 13th-15th before the festival concludes with Walsh’s misterman, directed by Bill Hughes and starring Joseph Russo from October 20th – 22nd. Fri/Sat shows at 8pm with a 2pm matinee on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online at https://brookfieldtheatre.ticketleap.com/3x3.

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