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    Theatre Review: MadLab’s Theatre Roulette 2015 Keeps it Fresh, Frequently Funny and True

    MadLab’s 16th iteration of their signature shorts festival Theatre Roulette had some astonishing moments in the two nights I was able to see and review (I was unable to see the third night, Slap Happy and Other Short Plays).

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    This year, the nights are structured around playwrights new to the festival – Contact High, directed by Stephen Woosley – and playwrights who have been part of previous festivals – Punch Drunk, directed by Josh Kessler.

    Contact High is also themed around the difficulties of connecting with other people. The writing on this night is rougher, more akin to sketches than thought-through shorts. Woosley’s direction keeps it moving at a good clip – creating a tight, almost breakneck 75 minutes of theatre – and finds charming touches and sight gags, as in “Zeno’s Arrow” (written by David Susman) the “target” is Joe Liles in a classic Jam T-shirt.

    In general, the highlights of Contact High are clever twists on clichéd material. “Multitasking” by Christian Simonen features Julie Azelvandre as Tess, conducting a job interview with Kyle Jepson as Kathy and a speed-date with prospective suitor Eric (Casey May) simultaneously. Simonen and the actors get big laughs from the similarities in both these basic human negotiations with an eye toward the way we succeed or fail at both. The above-mentioned “Zeno’s Arrow” overlays that famous fallacy on matters of the human heart and sings through the performances of a rock solid Joe Liles, Laura Spires who glows with fizzy, infectious charm and Jason Sudy (also the night’s assistant director) doing his best Rod Serling.

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    Contact High stumbles when it gets pedantic, as in Greg Nanni’s overlong and overly obvious “The Complete Western History of The Human Race Abridged” and T. Adamson’s not-funny-enough look at the folly of trying to be something you’re not and whether any concepts are really universal, “Math”. But even these are enlivened by fantastic, funny performances by Colleen Dunne.

    The single best short I saw of either night came in the novice night of Contact High: “Impact” by Trey Nichols. A riveting look at the danger of someone bullied as a child (Jason Sudy, a marvel of tension) trying to confront his bully as an adult (a perfect, crumbling Travis Horseman). It delves into the way we try to will catharsis into being and why that so often backfires. It riffs on the Buddhist adage that carrying a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die. It sketches two people so desperate even almost-certain suicide is a welcomed break for the grinding routine. By the time Horseman delivers the line, “I used to be a badass. Now I’m just bad,” there’s all the sadness in the world through a tautly directed ten minute play about a test drive. I circled Nichols’ name to check for whatever he writes next. I’d go out on a limb and say “Impact” repays the ticket price all on its own. 

    Punch Drunk is loosely themed around people who have taken a beating from life and the mechanisms through which they keep going. It benefits from the more assured work of previously produced writers who are used to this form. It avoids the lectures and lumpy pacing of the earlier night and creates a more rounded evening of entertainment. 

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    Punch Drunk has a pleasing symmetrical structure. It opens and closes with takes on science fiction cliché. Brett Hursey’s take on men in black, “Vacancies,” opens the evening and John Busser’s overlong use of time travel as a delivery mechanism for puns, “Time Travelers Can Apply Yesterday,” closes. These are the weakest pieces of the evening – though someone with less of an aversion to puns might disagree on the very well-acted and directed latter.

    The next layer of Punch Drunk‘s onion is about the conflict of human vs. bottle. The second play, Greg Vovos’ “Baggage Handlers” features Michael Moore as George, an alcoholic at a crisis point in his recovery, and Jeff Potts as the personification of his id and his disease, and they’re magic together. A grim Mutt and Jeff with a combustible push and pull together. A dynamic that catches fire when an intoxicating Vicki Kessler appears as Alyssa. Kessler hits the beats of George’s maybe last chance to feel human but also makes her own character seem like a fully fleshed out person, and watching Moore’s George fumble this opportunity in a mortifying, scary way, pins the audience to their seats. Their circle is completed by MB Griffith as a hilarious skewering of the manic pixie dream girl and another way to live with the damage dealt and received as part of being human. The penultimate play, Christopher Lockheardt’s “Photos of Meg,” is a tone poem about memory as a shutting-out and anesthetic as poison with a stunning performance from Jennifer Barlup as a mother who lost her child.

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    The two plays in the middle both play with time. “Ten Picnics” by Mark Harvey Levine has the most interesting conceit – two women and one man follow the man revisiting the same picnic ground from being a child with his two Moms up through bringing his own child. Unfortunately, while the actors – Barlup, Chelsea Jordan, and Chad Hewitt – labor mightily there is too much ground covered and not enough time to establish who Barlup and Jordan are in each scene. Alex Dremann’s “Meta Meta” is a very funny exorcism with Potts playing the writer trying to convince his actors, Moore and Griffith, to work on a new film/theatre hybrid which leads to a look at Dogme 95, Charlie Kaufman, and the perils of restriction, recursivity, and the ossification of style. 

    It’s the nature of the beast for this kind of work to be a mixed bag, but there’s enough good, true work in both the Theatre Roulette nights I saw to heartily recommend them. It’s easy to see why this series has such staying power and such a devoted following. 

    Theatre Roulette runs through Saturday, May, 23, with all three shows presented on Saturday. For ticket and more information, visit www.madlab.net.

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    Richard Sanford
    Richard Sanfordhttp://sanfordspeaks.blogspot.com/
    Richard Sanford is a freelance contributor to Columbus Underground covering the city's vibrant theatre scene. You can find him seeking inspiration at a variety of bars, concert halls, performance spaces, museums and galleries.
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