STAGE REVIEW : ‘Making Scenes’: Fresh Produce From Laguna

If all the performances in “Making Scenes,” a new monthly series of dramatic sketches, are as charming and witty as Sunday’s offering by Mary Anne McGarry, then something truly fresh has been added to the Orange County theatrical scene.

McGarry, a professional actress and writer, launched the series at the Engman International art gallery with a beautifully turned rendition of her own short story “Honeymoon in Galway,” material so winning that it set as high a standard as the performance did.

Making her entrance with mouth agape and a dazed look in her pale blue eyes, McGarry told of arriving by plane in Ireland (“with no idea what I was getting into . . . out of my mind on Dramamine and fatigue”) for a visit to her just-married brother in his picturesque cottage by the sea.

Did she say picturesque? What McGarry got into was a funny tale about her brother’s less-than-idyllic honeymoon with his wife (“a night shift nurse who keeps vampire hours”), who naturally was troubled by his sudden urge to go have a drink with his IRA ex-girlfriend.

Seamlessly woven into this entertaining fiasco were self-deprecating reminiscences of McGarry’s own affair with a former jockey named Paul who knew how to sweet-talk women as well as horses and other animals (“his best friend was a pig”) and who banked a lot of money betting against his own mounts before taking off for Guatemala.

On a more sober note (but only slightly), McGarry also recounted memories of her dear old mother, who always wanted to visit Ireland but had to settle for late-night television reruns of “The Quiet Man,” John Ford’s very Irish movie classic with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

Patty Amelotte set the mood for McGarry’s animated performance with lovely accompaniment on the dulcimer, all under the imaginative direction of series co-founder Jonelle Allen. The Engman gallery space provided luxurious surroundings.

Allen, also a professional actress, will perform next in the series on April 26, with a piece to be written for her by McGarry about Easter in Harlem. It will be based on the music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance, Allen said.

That will be followed in May by Douglas Rowe, the former artistic director of the Laguna Playhouse, performing original Memorial Day-themed material he will co-write with Mark Turnbull.