Ayn Rand Would Be Proud of The Altruists

We debated the topic of altruism once in a freshman college course at Seattle University, and came to the conclusion that is was damn near impossible to commit an entirely selfless act. Either altruism was dead or it never existed.

The Altruists (Friday and Saturday, TPS Studio 4 in the Seattle Center House, tickets $15-$30), Nicky Silver's farce about modern day do-gooders living in the East Village--a self-absorbed, hypocritical bunch--would certainly have you believe we were right. Protesting everything from freeing Nelson Mandela (who was freed almost two decades ago now) to wearing fur, it becomes clear they're protesting just to protest.

Not all of Silver's characters actually purport to be do-gooders. Sydney (Sarah Petty), the star of the soap opera Montana Beach, is the least altruistic of the group. During a lengthy monologue in which she objects to the various causes of her live-in boyfriend Ethan (Bill Thompson), praises Prada, and regales the audience with the details of their sexcapades, she shoots him (and thinks she's killed him) in fit of rage. On the other side of town, we see social worker Ronald (Michael Ledezma) trying to finesse a one-night-stand with drug-abusing prostitute Lance (Jeff Orton) into a real relationship, while the "politically" lesbian Cybil (Felisa Smithson) spends her time fucking Ethan and trying to remember the raison d'être of the protest-du-jour.

Petty proves a fine comedic actress as the hysterically over-the-top Sydney. In an attempt to deal with her recent murder, she can hardly resist breaking into vapid tangents about herself. Ledezma's whiny, self-loathing Ronald makes you wants to slap some sense into him--or just slap him. He's the victim while trying to save someone all the while. Smithson plays the faux-lesbian Cybil with a zealous rage.

It's a messy plot but the point is driven home numerous times: for this flawed cast of characters, protests aren't revolutionary, they're in vogue. We tried (and failed) to find something redeeming about these people as they try to cover up a murder and pretend to care about anything and everything. The Altruists boils down to a 90-minute satirical romp about clichés, made bearable by an adept cast.