Azuay Community Theater celebrates February with four distinctly different comedies; The theater needs your help moving to its new location in El Centro

By Rick Snyder

It’s time to enjoy some famous comedies at An Evening of Short Plays, opening Friday, February 17 at 4 p.m. at the Azuay Community Theater.

Following ACT’s first 2 first success productions of the 2022-23, It Had To Be You and It’s A Wonderful Life, the “Shorts” follows distinctly different themes by four different playwrights that will tickle sophisticated and silly funnybones.

Bob Hay and Cody Hamilton rehearse I’m Herbert. (Photo: Aiden Massey)

See An Evening of Short Plays
The show opens Friday, February 17 with 4 p.m. Performances February 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 at ACT’s location on Ordonez Lasso adjacent to the Hotel Oro Verde. A social hour kicks off at 3pm in the Lounge with a cash bar.

Tickets are $15 and require advance reservations. Credit cards accepted at www.actseats.com.  Or Send via Paypal: $15 per ticket using Friends and Family to account actseats@gmail.com and include name, email address and performance date. Or email actseats@gmail.com to reserve and pay at the door including the same order details.

Read on for a quick overview of all the flavors of comic variety.

Sly, Southern Silliness
St. Louis is the setting for Tennessee Williams’ A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot. Williams  also famously wrote Streetcar Named Desire. “Parrot” tells the story of two members of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Jackson Haggerty Post of the Sons of Mars, Flora and Bessie. They chat cannily over drinks while waiting for eligible conventioneers to arrive.  Despite some sour feelings between the ladies,, the arrival of the “boys” leads to a joyful conclusion. Featuring Cody Hamilton, Charlean Born, and Gregory Hattaway and directed by Jeanne McCaferty.

Mark Deckard and Charlean Born rehearse Plan B. (Photo: Aiden Massey)

Spousal Sarcasm
In Plan B by British author Robert Scott, Richie and his wife Susan find themselves in the Emergency Room on their anniversary following Richie’s tragic spaghetti accident from preparing a celebratory dinner. The eccentric Belinda arrives with some outrageous stories threaded with good advice. The play won the Leicestershire One Act Play Festival in 2019 (UK) and features Charlean Born, Mark Deckard, and Manya Arond-Thomas, and is directed by Rick Snyder.

Sardonic Simpering
Our Man in Madras, a dark comedy written by award-winning German playwright and novelist Gert Hofmann, provides a sobering look into the inhumanity of corporate America. The play, which was also made into a short film, follows the Human Resources Manager’s phone conversation with an unseen employee experiencing a massive tragedy while the manager shows more concern with the employee’s productivity than his well-being.  With real-life husband and wife team Markku and Jackie Sario, and directed by Bob Fry.

Senseless Seniors
I’m Herbert is one of four plays taken from Robert Anderson’s highly successful collection, You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running. The play humorously reveals that even as their capacities decline with age, people still cling to their relationships. Bob Hay and Cody Hamilton are cast and I’m Herbert  is directed by Markku Sario.

ACT Must Relocate and Request Donations
ACT just learned that its lease will terminate unexpectedly March 31. So, it has identified a new home in El Centro near Parque San Sebastian’s restaurants and public transportation.

The group seeks donations to offset large, extraordinary expenses to move and renovate the space where it will finish its season.. The show must go on!

A formal campaign is being planned but donations are already being gratefully accepted via Paypal to actseats@gmail.com using friends and family mode.