 |
| Kenneth Tigar, Ann Sachs. |
FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS [One-Acts] S:
Charles Cosler; C: Liz Covey; L: Edward M. Greenberg; P: American Place
Theatre; T: American Place Theatre (OB); 3/6/74-3/30/74 (29)
“Shearwater”
[Comedy/Sports] A: William Hauptman; “Cream Cheese” [Comedy/Labor] Lonnie
Carter; D: Isaiah Sheffer; M: Bobby Paul, Lanny Meyers; “Dr. Kheal” [Solo] A/D:
Maria Irene Fornes; “Love Scene” [Drama/Theatre] A: Robert Coover; D:
Caymichael Patten
An
evening of four one-acts that Clive Barnes considered “insufferable,” and that
got little positive attention from his colleagues. Barnes thought “the best” on
the bill, “Shearwater,” to be terrible, with the others far worse.
“Shearwater
concerns a true incident, the apparent suicide of British sailor Donald
Crowhurst, during a round-the-world race with one person to a craft. “Cream
Cheese” purports to examine union problems in an 1899 Pittsburgh cream cheese
factory; ragtime music accompanied the action. “Dr. Kheal” is a one-person (Andrew
Jarkowsky) play featuring a professor presenting his vague, philosophical
meanderings to the audience. And “Love Scene” shows an actor (Kenneth Tigar)
and an actress (Ann Sachs) silently rehearsing a love scene to the offstage
commands of a director.
Neither
acting, directing, nor design were considered worthy of note.