Sketching Out New Love Stories

Writers have said that a short story is harder to write than a novel. The length and looseness of the longer form allow more freedom, the theory goes. The same must be true of the full-length play versus the one-act.

There’s a misconception these days--fostered by such showcases as the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s famous Ten-Minute Play Festival--that anyone can dash off a one-act. Not so, as the New Voices Playwrights Workshop’s “100 Minutes of Love” proved over the weekend.

Of the 11 pieces on the Theatre District stage, a few contained insightful and clever writing, but only one qualified as a play. The others had the unmistakable ring of television sketch.

The true play was Michael Buss’ “On Sundays Pretendin’,” a Civil War vignette about an officer whose wife has followed him into battle as a nurse, only to discover that a disguised Confederate soldier, thought lost in the war, is her teenage sweetheart. Mark Moore and Stephanie Kane make excellent marks as the married couple. Though Darren Smith is dull as the soldier, and director Buss ignores any of the tension the play could have, the piece makes a point and has merit.

Stephen Ludwig’s “Duet,” quasi-poetic riffs about a couple whose relationship is on a downhill course, offers solid writing, but it’s more poem than play. Lorianne Hill and Louis Hale are effective as the couple, and writer-director Ludwig knows how to make his words sing.

More insightful is “Power of the Picket Fence,” a monologue by Amity Westcott, directed with telling effect by Sean Gallagher and delivered with impeccable taste and understanding by Tom Swimm. It concerns a man whose memories are triggered by the smell of his father’s after-shave, especially when worn by his mother while his father was away. His joy at finding a wife who smells of roses ties a touching knot in an interesting moment.

Close behind these two in quality is writer-director Vincent Morales’ “RSVP: Regrets Only.” It’s notable for its invention, with a bride and groom separately recalling their meeting and the effect of love at first sight. Unfortunately, we discover, they never meet again, and each marries someone else. Morales directs his duologue with tenderness and compassion, and it is ably performed by Sue Halverson and Paul Vidales.

*

Debra Valle’s “Art and Soul,” a discussion between a bride-to-be and an older friend who doesn’t believe in marriage, could look better than it does. Director Laura Trotter and floundering actresses Carmen Guo and Lorianne Hill come nowhere near the intent of the text and hide the script’s advantages.

The television skits fare less well: John Lane’s pointless “Want Ads,” about a blind date from newspaper ads; “Co-Dependent Cookbook,” Scott Samson’s innocuous and silly stand-up take on a public-access cooking show; “Tubular Bells,” Linda Whitmore’s cliched conversation about fertilization between two ovaries, and Tom Swimm’s “Angels Online,” which makes too much of a wife’s righteous anger over her husband’s chat-room romance.

Chris Trela’s “The Maltese Cupid” is a step better and often funny, but it’s merely a retread of the overdone Humphrey Bogart-Sam Spade genre. Though Elizabeth Greene and Della Lisi are funny as the luscious ladies trying to trap Sam, Trela’s Bogart is like everybody else’s.

The only real “ugh” in the evening is John Arnau’s tasteless and unfunny “A Gyro Sandwich Valentine,” in which Bobby Kennedy kills J.F.K. and Jackie kills Bobby, then marries Onassis and kills him, harvesting everybody’s millions.

A New Voices Playwrights Workshop production. Directed by Chris Trela, Sean Gallagher, Laura Trotter, Vincent Morales, Tom Swimm, Michael Buss and Stephen Ludwig. Scenic design: Sean Gallagher. Lighting design: Joe Koonce. Sound design: Ron Castro. Stage manager: Stephen Ludwig.