Quickies 12: Seven Plays That Hit The Mark

Maybe you’re one of those people who does your research before picking a play to see, you might look up a review or two, search out the synopsis of a play, or perhaps read the marketing blurb posted on the producing company’s website. The challenge, generally, with “an evening of short plays” or a “one-act-festival” is the hit-and-miss nature of such productions. All blurbs, synopses and most reviews simply describe the evening as a “collection of short plays” without giving too much information about the individual pieces.

Let us stay true to that spirit for just another minute and say this - Live Girls! is now presenting Quickies 12, an evening of seven short plays by seven female playwrights, which is playing at Theatre Off Jackson in the International District. This year’s collection consists of Bloom by Emily Schwend, The Closet by Aoise Stratford, Expecting Bobby (or Nicole) by Joy McCullough-Carranza, Good Work by Gabrielle Sinclair Compton, The Hole Story by Kathleen Coudle-King, Perfect by Crystal Skillman and May Bear by Juliet Waller Pruzan.

Now, let’s dive a little deeper into the actual content of this specific grouping of short plays. There are many similarities among these seven plays, which is likely completely accidental. Two of the plays are centered around sisters while two of the other plays are a window into the lives of couples contemplating their past and future lives together. The one thing that the plays have in common, is that all seven of them are “hits”, and none “misses”. As if that weren't enough, the transitions from one to the next are just as enjoyable as any of the featured pieces themselves.

When playwrights don’t have the luxury of crafting a full length play, they have to make their points quickly and effectively, establishing characters and exploring situations with a greater sense of urgency. Short plays are perhaps not the best medium to tell a fully fleshed out story - but they are great for focusing in on a specific situation or relationship, on the conundrums of our lives. With maybe an exception or two, the plays in this volume of Quickies do just that - they bring us a moment that most of us can relate to almost immediately, then giving us something to ponder. They cover snippets of life, featuring people of different ages, in different stages.

While not specifically written to be interpreted this way, if one wanted, one could easily imagine that the seven plays are scenes from different times in the lives of the same people, developing from two teenage sisters learning to deal with school bullies in Bloom, to the middle aged sisters hiding from their families at a reunion in The Hole Story. This continuity of life, this commonness - dare I say indistinguishable nature of one life from another - all seemingly experiencing the same human condition, makes this montage of seven different plays feel like a coherent single piece.

Quickies is performed by a solid ensemble of actors, most of whom appear in multiple plays. Special mention must be given to Adria LaMorticella and Norah Elges for their work in Bloom.

Live Girls’ mission as a theatre company is to produce and develop new plays by women. This volume of Quickies sees work from seven playwrights produced on the stage; you only have three more performances to catch them all.

Fridays and Saturdays through June 18, at 8:00p.m. (special PWYW performance on Monday, June 13 at 8:00p.m.) // Theater Off Jackson, 409 7th Avenue South // $5 - $18, tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets