'Short Order Stories,' Well Done
Thursday, October 5, 2006; Page VA10
Charter Theatre is serving up a nice slice of life along with the coffee at Larry's Diner, the setting for "Short Order Stories."
The life's not always sweet, and the coffee may occasionally go stale, but it's a promising start for the troupe's new life at Theatre on the Run, across the river from its former home at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in the District.
  Businessman Chuck, played by Timmy Ray James, communicates with his office but not with his son, Evan (Michael Grew). (By Ray Gniewek) |
The eight-year-old theater company, which concentrates on new plays, was drawn here by the Arlington County arts incubator program. "Short Order Stories," from local playwright Renee Calarco, is perfectly suited to the small venue.
The light drama features a unique bit of stagecraft that is central to the storytelling and necessary because of the limited space.
Larry's is a wayside stop on a road leading to several colleges. It's a popular place for parents to share a last meal with their kids as they drop them off in the fall, or try to reconnect with them on the way home in spring.
Calarco, known for very short plays, has created four stories with just enough interlocking factors to blend into a seamless two-act presentation.
Some of the connections may be a tad too fanciful, but it's not a fatal flaw.
Lou (Andy Brownstein) and Fran (Lee Mikeska Gardner) are dealing with strains in their marriage while trying to reach their sullen, uncommunicative daughter, Jenn (Anne Veal). Successful businessman and divorced dad Chuck (Timmy Ray James) is getting a day with his nerdy son Evan (Michael Grew). Evan, on his way to Cornell, is an unwillingly platonic pal of Jenn, who is relegated to a less prestigious school because treatment for her eating disorder has depleted her family's finances.
By coincidence, both families are in the diner. Meanwhile, resentful waitress Paula (Kerrie Seymour) and breezy cook Peach (Chris Stezin) deal with their frustrations and hopes for change in their lives. Secrets are revealed, and some lives are transformed, but the playwright doesn't tie it all into a neat package at the end, which enhances the sense that these flawed people have lives that will continue outside Larry's.
The stories could be told more economically, and it's tiring that young Jenn and waitress Paula are each so easily riled into unpleasant outbursts. But director Joe Calarco, the playwright's brother, demonstrates keen focus with this intimate, character-driven play. It's quite a different undertaking from one of his recent endeavors a block away at Signature Theatre, where he won a Helen Hayes Award this year for the outrageous, broadly played musical "Urinetown." He keeps it gentle here, his actors traversing much emotional territory without losing realistic modulation. Brownstein is particularly successful as blue-collar Lou, loud and blunt but without caricature. Gardner goes from poignant to almost over-the- top as neurotic wife and mother Fran, always pulling back before tumbling over. And Seymour handles the lesbian waitress whose partner wants a baby with a wry sense of humor.
The shifting of perspectives is the hook for this play, as the playwright and director occasionally alter physical and storytelling viewpoints, with the diner set broken apart and rearranged every time the action is paused. There's no room for a fancy revolving set here, so the actors manage the moves themselves with aplomb. Necessity and its child, invention, work beautifully to pull the stories together.
"Short Order Stories," performed by Charter Theatre, continues through Oct. 21, at Theatre on the Run, 3700 S. Four Mile Run Dr., Arlington. Showtime is
8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and 3 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $20 and $25. For reservations, call 202-333-7009 or visithttp:/
