THEATER : A Showing of Singular Efforts : Edmund Gaynes’ ‘Sixty-Four Solos’ provides a fresh format for a collection of one-person plays.

When Edmund Gaynes went looking for one-person shows to mount at his Two Roads Theater, he figured he’d wind up with three or four interesting pieces. But after he put notices in the trade papers two months ago, entries came flooding in. Hundreds of them. And many of them were good--very good. “Suddenly, I decided to get a little more ambitious,” the producer says cheerfully. “But I don’t go from three to 10. I go from three to 64.”

Thus was born “Sixty-Four Solos: A Congregation of One-Person Plays,” an eight-week program opening tonight at the Two Roads.

“I chose 64 solos because I like the alliteration,” quips Gaynes, who read all of the submissions with his director wife Pamela Hall. “And I’m calling it a congregation, not a festival, because that word makes me yawn. So there’s a fresh slant on it.”

Also fresh is the format: Each show will be performed only once. There is no thematic thread or time limit. Longer plays will have a whole evening for themselves. Shorter works (one runs 15 minutes) will be paired with others on a single bill.

The logistics of compiling and coordinating all of that material--and all of those people--doesn’t appear to faze the producer; six days before the program’s debut, he was still booking and scheduling plays.

Gaynes has been artistic director at the Two Roads since January; before that, he ran the West End Playhouse in Van Nuys, where his credits included the long-running revues “Broadway Sings Out” and “Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes.” He’s also mounted successful one-person shows, including a pair of Sammy Shore solos, Gideon Potter’s “Wonder Faire” and Michael Kavanagh’s “Bein’ with Behan.”

“Sixty-Four Solos” kicks off with Kate McCalley’s “Mississippi Tapestry,” which explores Southern life through the eyes of six characters. (It will be paired with Brian D. Evans’ adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ “The Doctor and the Devils.”) Although McCalley was warned that audiences might not take to a white woman playing a black man, she’s had only positive responses to the piece. “When you’re really real and tell it from the heart, people respond,” she says. “Barriers are crossable.”

Saturday, Rob Daniel’s “Blame It on the Curry” will share the bill with Bettina Ottenstein’s performance of David Hines’ “Bondage.” Hines, a London cabdriver, created the piece from dozens of on-the-job conversations with prostitutes. “It made me look at the subject in a new way,” says Ottenstein, who’s toured the piece in Europe but never in America. “We tend to look at the prostitute, not the human being. This piece shows them as they are--touching, funny, full of humanity. It’s a one-hour roller-coaster ride.”

Closing the first weekend is “The African Roscius,” Robin Scott Peters’ portrayal of 19th-Century black actor Ira Aldredge. “Aldredge was a Shakespearean actor, but he wasn’t allowed to do what he wanted,” Peters explains. “In 1821, slavery was alive and well.” That year, at age 17, Aldredge left New York and sailed for Europe, where he established a prominent acting career. In his portrait, Peters--as Aldredge--glories in his Shakespearean roles: “I get to do ‘Titus Andronicus,’ ‘Lear’ and ‘Othello.’ And I get to sing--a lot.”

Although he’s pleased with the way “Solos” is taking shape, producer Gaynes admits he’s straying into uncharted waters. “I knew none of the people from the first weekend,” he says. “My selections were based on recommendations, based on what I read, based on my 40 years experience, based on my instinct. Usually my instinct is pretty good.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Sixty-Four Solos: A Congregation of One-Person Plays.” Location: Two Roads Theater, 4348 Tujunga Ave., Studio City. Hours: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Closes Aug. 27. Price: $12.50. Call: (818) 766-9381.