There’s something downright collegial about attending grassroots theater in a church performed by apprentices, some acting for the first time. Brooks Center Arts producer David McClinton goes one better by having his novices perform new plays by area writers whose work might otherwise never be seen.
To sit in somber, serious judgment of “In the City,” four quirky half-hour plays, would be an act of savagery, and beyond its point and purpose. Yes, the plays are deeply flawed, the acting rudimentary and charmingly nervous. But everyone — on stage and off — was having a perfectly wonderful time.
The appeal in attending friends-and- family theater is simply seeing manifest opportunity borne of creative industry. McClinton creates learning opportunities for both actors and writers. For audiences, it’s an exercise in complete open-mindedness and patience. The reward for all is a neighborly, easygoing and nonjudgmental vibe.
You might not think so at first. When you walk into this church in the city to see, yes, “In the City,” you’re greeted by a cop who sternly warns you to turn off your cellphone — “or else you’ll have to deal with me.”
He’s not a cop, of course. He’s an actor playing a cop in the first playlet, and it’s his first time on a stage in his life.
By the second story, this genial actor has joined us in the audience in street clothes, and if I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’ — his cellphone goes off. He doesn’t answer, but he checks the voice message — on speakerphone. I guess he’ll be have to be dealing with himself about that, but no one seems to much mind.
The bare-bones plays are “Fur,” by late Brooks founder and minister Karl Kopp; “Edgar,” Army vet Frank Oteri’s first attempt at playwriting; “Like Trains in the Night,” by Durango’s Joel Eis; and “From the Lips of a Strange Woman,” by JD Mason.
“Fur” is about a wolf-turned-man who finds a kindred spirit in a rebellious teen; “Edgar” is a “Zoo Story” knockoff about a man accosted in a park by an invasive prostitute; “Trains” is a “Godot”-inspired look at two mirrored aspiring writers riding a train; and “Strange Woman” is a distilled epic about a homeless woman recounting her days of yore as a mobster’s moll.
Each requires suspension of disbelief; most involve strangers being impossibly familiar with one another.
Yet, there are diamonds in the rough. Miranda LeQuire shows vulnerable promise as “Edgar’s” whore; that Diana Bellamy is performing for the first time anywhere as the “Strange Woman” bag lady seems incomprehensible. And out of the late blue is a familiar face — Shadow Theatre regular Quatis Tarkington in a support role. These are the revelations that make nights like these worth it.
Just think of it as visiting an intro-to- acting class, or an evening of playacting in your neighbor’s living room . . . and just enjoy.
“In the City” *1/2 (out of four stars)
Four short plays by local writers. Presented by Brooks Center Arts, 1400 Williams St. Through May 31. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. 2 hours, 10 minutes. $15. For info, e-mail brookscenterarts@yahoo.com.
Read a script sample
Read a scene from Frank Oteri’s “Edgar.”
