review For years, director Jill Forbath Roden's "Six at Eight" festival constituted the only excitement in south Orange County theatre. In a wasteland marked by 28 revivals of "The Mousetrap" and "Don't Dress for Dinner", Roden dared to stage recent American plays. Unfortunately, she produced her annual 10-minute-play festival at the South Orange County Community Theatre — with predictable and depressing results. But now everything is different. Roden's festival has a new home — the Vanguard Theatre in Fullerton — and this year's "Six at Eight" sparkles with stellar acting, directing and writing. It's a wonderful gift. Each year, Roden pairs three published 10-minute plays with the top three from her national competition. Often, the fresh plays are as strong as the published ones, and this year is no exception. The playbill opens with the 1st place winner, Caridad Svich's "Torch". Svich, currently in residence at the Mark Taper Forum, has to be one of the most avant-garde playwrights in the country; finding her work in Orange County is a little like bumping into Emiliano Zapata down at the Claim Jumper. Like Mac Wellman and Erik Ehn, Svich rejects natural dialogue; her poem-grounded monologue is supremely literate and often confoundingly obtuse. (As one woman remarked at intermission, "that was an interesting piece.") "Torch" presents the story of a Chilean-born hooker facing down death and yearning for the "platinum" of her youth. Actress Marcia Bonnitz and director Laurel Kelsh Jones have decided to emphasize the emotion in the story rather than the music in Svich's writing, which may be a mistake. Still, Bonnitz's strong performance and a harsh lighting design work well. Two queer comedies finish second and third: Linda Eisenstein's "A Rustle of Wings" and Brent Hartinger's "Prom Night". Eisenstein, who hails from Ohio, gets produced mostly in the rusty states; judging from this wonderful one-act, she ought to get produced everywhere else. Sharyn Case shines as an older lesbian who yearns to fly after meeting a woman with wings — yes, feathery wings — at a bar. She lets her guard down, lets her heart out, and releases the beauty within herself in a play that affirms the souls and spirits of older women. Hartinger's script (an excerpt from a full-length work) presents a sweet scene of latent homosexuality between two teenage boys (played by Louis Hale and Jeff Castle, who, costuming or no, resemble men in their mid-30s). It's got some good laughs and some gay truths gently voiced in subtle performances. One of the best ten-minute plays to emerge from the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Neal Bell's "Out the Window" offers a magic valentine to the power of faith and romance. A man in a wheelchair sits on top of a table; how on earth did he get there? Jay Fraley, who excelled as Vasques in Rude Guerrilla's recent "'Tis Pity She's A Whore," is even more compelling here as our hero Jake, and Gwen Yeager does a nice turn as his paramour Andrea under Roden’s own direction. Richard Strand's "The Guest of Honor" also features good work from Bonnitz, Tom Roden and Jane and Mitchell Nunn. Essentially an amplified joke, possibly a satire on political correctness, it's a ten-minute concept played to its hilt. Finally, there's "Making the Call", a 1997 ATL script by the mysterious and prolific Jane Martin (who is widely thought to be ATL head honcho Jon Jory). If you thought you couldn't wring any more laughs out of Clinton and Lewinsky, you're wrong; all it takes is the magnificent Vince Campbell as Secret Service Agent Parker, uttering the line "Would you care to have sex with the President of the United States, ma'am?" to set the house rolling. Campbell's inspired stoicism complements Paulette Kendall's bouncy turn as the surprised draftee Elizabeth. There are many pointless ten-minute plays, but there are also those
great ones which validate the form. You'll find some examples of greatness this month at
the Vanguard. "Six at Eight" is both a bargain and a reward for Orange County. "Six at Eight", thru May 22 at the Vanguard Theatre, 699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton. $15-17. 714.526.8007.
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