The second annual Actors Alliance of San Diego Festival is a 12-day fest of over 30 short plays staged at the Lyceum Space in Horton Plaza. There are seven separate programs, each with two play dates. I only wish I could see all of the productions. Here's a sampling of Program 3 with five plays:
Local scribe David Wiener's Something as Small as a Smile, directed by David Rethoret, stars Michelle DeFrancesco. The text is taken from an in-depth interview with a near-death experiencer. Wiener, one of many local playwrights in the festival, has several plays that have had international performances. DeFrancesco, under Rethoret's direction, runs through an amazing range of emotions with a reality that is almost scary. Her characters goes from welcoming death to embracing a new look at life.
Barbara Cole's Surviving Chrysalis is directed by Kati Behumi with Cole starring. Cole sits in a local coffee shop depressed about a potentially serious medical problem. Cole is stellar as she introduces us to four diverse personas with the sweep and changes of a long silk scarf.
Leslie Ridgeway's Deadwood Desperados is directed by Sandy Hotchkiss Gullans with George Blum and Amy Mayer on stage. This amusing tale of bank robbery, lost love, found love, and more has Mayer as Blum's ex-wife, whom he kidnaped after robbing a bank where she worked. After a drive out into the desert where their conflict turns to their relationship, they achieve an unexpected resolution.
Shadows of Mercy written by James Anthony Ellis and directed by Jay Mower deals with an 18 year-old girl, at the time of her high school graduation, having to make choices. It is an interesting look into her past. The cast includes Jessica Parsell, Shari Lyon, Steve Greene, Lyndsey Kangas, Alison Spousta, Andrew Levy, and Hengameh Bashar. The influences come from her mother, her sadistic brother, her boy friend, a snippy gorgeous girlfriend, and two dancers, one in white and one in black, that accent some of the troubling influences.
Jean-Claude van Itallie's classic, The Serpent, directed by Punit Aurebacher, blends the Book of Genesis with contemporary improvisational theater. The young cast (Stephanie Evatt, Devon Hollingsworth, Morgan Hollingsworth, Kevin Koppman-Gue, Andrew Levy, Kit Medina, Kara Tsukashima, Puay Kua, & Daugherty) creatively follows the temptation of the snake. The choreography is definitely worth the price of admission.
