The Horse Trade Theater Group's recent evening of short one-act plays were performed under the title The Cauldron. The show's name, along with the graphics on its postcard, was misleading, as it conjured up images of witches, goblins, and cheesy fright-night antics.
In reality, the three one-act plays - Said Sayrafiezadeh's The World Might Be Uninhabited, Tony Daniel's Closing Guy, and Anne Washburn's Apparition - were more sci-fi than ghoulish, and more creepy, intense fun (and shorter) than a Twilight Zone marathon.
In Sayrafiezadeh's The World Might Be Uninhabited, a man wakes up from a nightmare and tries to discuss the dream with his female partner. Sayrafiezadeh's writing is a dazzling example of joining two completely different styles (an easy-going naturalism for the man, a more formal, dare it be said stilted, style for the woman) to create the jarring sense that not all was what it seemed. He was ably supported by Rosemary Andress's no-nonsense direction and two solid performances from Graham Stevens and Addie Johnson as the (possible) couple.
Closing Guy is a wonderfully creative piece from Tony Daniel. Taking the form of a bizarre radio show, Daniel has great good fun combining the noir conventions of James M. Cain with the sci-fi invention of Rod Serling, as a floor sweeper struggles with cosmic questions about his own raison d'etre. Glynis Rigsby directed the work with élan, creating gorgeous stage pictures with breathtaking simplicity and eliciting strong performances from each member of her cast. Charles Paul Holt, in particular, drew the biggest laugh of the evening with his appropriately off-handed comment "That was weird."
In Apparition, Anne Washburn's monologue about the paranoia of living alone in a new apartment in a large city, Trevor A. Williams gave a knockout performance (under Linsey Firman's assured direction) that was only slightly compromised by his tripping over several of his lines. Nonetheless, he perfectly captured that sense of fright sometimes experienced when alone in a strange place where not everything feels as it should.
Kip Marsh provided a workable unit set for all three pieces; Tammy McBride contributed workable, character-specific costumes for each; but the real atmospheric coup lay in Jonathan Sanborn's nervously jumpy sound design, and especially Matthew Richards' alternately mysterioso and lurid lighting.
Curated by the Horse Trade Theater Group's Artistic Director, Kimo DeSean, The Cauldron, even with its misnomer of a title, was a smart evening of edgy fun, loaded with good writing, terrific direction, and excellent performances all around. "That was weird." Yeah! And oh so wild and wonderful!
(Also featuring Corey Behnke, James David Hart, Karen Nicole Smith, and Syreeta Covington.)
Box Score:
The World Might Be Uninhabited
Writing: 2
Directing: 2
Acting: 2
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 2
Closing Guy
Writing: 2
Directing: 2
Acting: 2
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 2
Apparition
Writing: 2
Directing: 2
Acting: 2
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 2