Well-Developed ‘Snapshots’ Captures Lives in Their Details

On the surface, the single-scene one-act might seem the easiest theatrical format to pull off--less to write, fewer characters and plot points to juggle, no time to wear out your welcome. But staged anthologies of short scenes rarely achieve the impact of a fully developed play; all too often, they merely scream “showcase vehicle for casting agents.”

“Snapshots” at the El Portal Center for the Arts proves a happy exception. Although a late substitution in Actors Alley’s season schedule, the piece had been extensively workshopped, and the effort is obvious in its careful writing and finely tuned performances.

The subtitle “Lives flashing before your eyes” is not catchy hype. Playwright Barbara Lindsay displays the two skills uniquely essential for the snapshot format--distillation and naturalism. Employing an economy reminiscent of the best short story writers, the majority of scenes convey the arcs of her characters’ lives in a few defining details without artifice or heavy-handedness.

In a coffeehouse encounter, a married man (Jason Squire) turns down the advances of a woman (Kate Asner) to whom he’s attracted--not out of knee-jerk morality, but because he doesn’t want to turn her into someone he’d resent. Later on, a quietly poignant moonlit date between a good-time bimbo (Angela Box) and a high-minded crusader (Michael Miranda) bent on redeeming her soul deftly turns the tables on their respective capacities to cope with life’s pain. In a recurring recitation drenched in seriocomic realism, a single woman (Tammy Dahlstrom) describes her increasingly desperate romantic forays.

Ironic plot twists frequently punctuate Lindsay’s slice-of-life scenarios, as in the interlocking monologues from a conscience-stricken drunken driver (R.D. Call) and the accident victim (Jill Jones) who mistakes him for her savior. But while confession may be good for the soul, it’s not always welcome to those around us, as we find after car trouble in the desert leads a guy (Eric Ashmore) to unburden himself to his lifelong friend (Erik Adams).

Launching the most hilarious sequence, a timid middle-aged suburbanite (John Edwin Shaw), about to pour his beer into a glass, thinks better of it and chugs from the bottle before launching into an account of the recent daring 1960s-style love-in he staged with his wife to overcome “their heavy regret of never having been groovy.”

Even in cases in which the plot strays into overly pat territory, finely nuanced performances and staging sustain interest. Lila Waters and Donald Bishop bring spunk to a formulaic phone confrontation on a crisis hotline, and the presence of a silent guardian angel (Lori Allen Thomas) adds ethereal spice to a shallow portrait of a businessman (Ron Reynolds) unable to commit to his girlfriend (Karen Knotts).

* “Snapshots,” Circle Theatre at the El Portal Center for the Arts, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 18. $20. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.