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Shortened Attention Span One-Act Horror Festival
nytheatre.com review
Anthony C.E. Nelson · October 12, 2007
The Shortened Attention Span Horror Festival, running in three sets of plays until October 28th, is like most mixed-bag short play festivals. There are one or two great pieces, and several more that need some work. I'm pleased to report that there's nothing terrible in their first selection of plays, and the pieces that are good are very good indeed.
The first piece, a reality show spoof by Robert W. McMaster, Jon Ospa, and June Rachelson-Ospa entitled America's Next Most Wanted, is a hilarious idea that suffers from poor execution. Director Mark Karafin, in particular, could help the play by picking up the pace a great deal and focusing on giving the proceedings the manic energy that this idea demands. The play does feature strong performances by McGregor Wright as celebrity guest judge Charles Manson and Stephen J. Peluso as a mob hit man contestant.
Happily Ever After, written and directed by Louisa Luisi, is more successful, a funny piece about a bickering pair of couples who find a Ouija Board among the gifts at a wedding. The sudden ending feels a little bit tacked on, however, and not really worth having a mystery about.
Left at Lycaon River, by Stewart Rudy and Julie Susman, is a perfect fit for this festival, however, a spooky tale about that oldest of horror clichés, a pretty young woman driving down a deserted road. As her cellphone battery begins to fade, she runs into mysterious yokels and starts to hear the howl of dogs. Co-writer Susman does a marvelous job as the damsel in distress. The one quibble I have is with the set. Whoever built the extremely cool car, which lights up and very nicely creates the sensation of movement, neglected to pay attention to the height of the set-piece—the back few rows couldn't see their wonderful work because it was too low to the ground!
As good as Left at Lycaon River is, the clear highlight of the evening is Will Snider's marvelous Trees Like Nails, a creepy, hilarious tale of a young man who finds the body of beautiful girl in the woods. As Robbie, the nervous young man who finds the body, Jack Moore perfectly captures the mixture of sadness and idealism of small-town outcast, while Snider himself is marvelous as the jerk who is Robbie's one abusive "friend." Deanna Weiner's direction is strong and sure, and she cleverly conveys the sensation of movement on a small stage. I look forward to seeing whatever else Snider writes.
Bob Ost's Neverwonderland is a strange choice for the festival, as the piece isn't scary or related to horror, but rather a tale of a support group for female middle-aged fairy tale characters, taking place in the home of Alice in Wonderland and her lesbian partner Wendy, which is visited by Oprah. The cast is funny, particularly Leslie C. Nemet as the quirky Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, but I found the play's implication that women would be happier if they stayed home and stopped talking about their problems a little disturbing.
The final piece, Ernest Curcio and Jeff Forte's musical Pulled Pork, may or may not have been horror, but I couldn't really tell because I wasn't sure what the heck it was about. At first I thought it was a story of a woman who wants another woman to help her act out a sexual fantasy about an abusive man, but then later the play seemed to imply that it was about putting a bad relationship behind you. Fortunately, the music is great, and Roshana Jewell and Concetta Rose Rella are fantastic as the two women, energetic, changeable, and full of charisma.
This is the first of three sets of plays in the Shortened Attention Span Horror Festival, and it has already closed. But if this night was any indication, there will be some impressive talent on hand in some of the pieces to come.