The IRC - PRESS - SPARK 2006

Curtain Up
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A CurtainUp Review Spark Festival 10 for 10
By Kathryn Osenlund

Today prostitutes are busy studying for their LSATs.- Bach, from Twenty Grand, a Table and Two Chairs.

The Theatre Alliance provides a valuable chance for little companies, some inexperienced, to get out there and find out what works, shine, make their mistakes, and participate in the wonderful, rich, unholy mess that is today's theatre as it sprouts from the compost heap of past works and from rivulets of new thought. The Spark Festival, 10 for 10, features twenty 10-minute plays divided into two programs, each of which runs for one week.

You take your chances with a festival like this. The short plays are uneven in quality, some fully baked and some not ready.

A juried selection system would be nice, but then a baby could be thrown out with bathwater. It may be a more interesting choice to proceed this way. While both programs often 10-minute shows feature a number of productions with fair levels of sophistication, on the whole, the first week's program is somewhat less satisfactory than the second.

In the first program, an offering of compressed Macbeth, Moby Dick, and Streetcar, while derivative in concept and only partially successful, was presented with notable energy, enthusiasm, and a nutty white whale by B. Someday Productions. Theatre Exile did Michael Hollinger's short, disturbing Naked Lunch, which works better after it's over than while you're watching it. In the case of Kitchen Drama fast, slurred delivery of stand-up comedy (and a baby providing upstaging) obscured many lines. In another contribution that should be developed, a promising Tribe of Fools needs to find a balance between dance, acting, and story.

Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium's Samuel Beckett piece stood out like a spotlight before you could even check the program. Hey, this is a legend mixed in with many writers who are just starting out.

In the second program, Mamet junkies, "Mametwill read us!" are presented by Luna Theater. Unfortunately they were short one actor at the opening so the artistic director had to roll up his sleeves and read. He did a creditable job, but reading is reading. The amusing premise of Yes, Mamet comes from playwright Matt Casarino. Ancient political overtones color two personal, conflating stories in the well-acted Hagar the Stranger Calls Home by Theatre Ariel. A pretty darn good gangster monologue delivered by Mark Jacobsen in Bill Rollieri's Whacking Crazy Joey by Philadelphia Dramatists Center almost converted me, a confirmed monologophobe. And BKSEET Productions' off the wall, curious piece on a young Rupert Murdoch has its attractions. Twenty Grand, a Table and Two Chairs by Michael A. Carson for Random Acts of Theater gets quite outrageous and makes you wonder if someone's going to be or not to be.

Some productions, while showing possibilities, still require more thought, more spit and polish. Others, one trick ponies, have a premise that's just not enough to carry them.

Organized, speedy, economical transitions between the ten plays for both programs are effected thanks to Lindsay Schwartz and her assistant's stage management. Basic lights, music, and props -and actors-- for the 20 pieces altogether were so smoothly coordinated that there was never a sense of rush or delay.

The Theatre Alliance's Spark Program was started in 2004 to "unite and ignite" and share expertise with small companies. Based on the entertaining, if slightly bumpy ride of 10 for 10, it's a good idea. The first program ran from July 11- 16. The second program runs July 18 through July 23 at Mum Puppettheater, Arch St.