Editorials

Reviewing Impact Theatre’s inaugural production at La Val’s Subterranean Theater is a little like trying to pin down a Baskin Robbins menu: Which tastes better: Chocolate Mint? Or maybe Strawberry Wonderful? 

This eager young company is baptizing their new-to-them—and first stable—quarters with their sixth annual program of what they dub “Briefs.” This time, for no decipherable reason, the program is called “Shock and Awe.” 

Since the ten playlets from twelve different playwrights bounce happily from one delightful absurdity to another, the tongue-in-cheek title should probably be summed up as “Why not?” Nothing else would make any sense, either. 

But the production isn’t about “making sense.” It’s about making fun. Perhaps surprisingly, these are not “message” entertainments. Impact Theatre is flagrantly youthful and energetic, deliberately targeting an audience of 18 to 35-year-olds. 

They’re also aggressively looking for new plays and new playwrights. At least in this production, they show no signs of the belligerent idealism that often comes with that package. 

Further, they don’t seem to have any particular guards at the door requiring ID cards. This could be valuable information since it is remotely possible that people over 35 can grasp and even enjoy light hearted satire about sex, drugs and politics, and whatever else happened to hit the playwrights’ minds. (No rock and roll here. The music is limited to a couple of amusing songs by the talented guitarist/composer Steven Klems). 

Klems, alas, is the only performer who can be mentioned by name, since the actors aren’t identified by their roles. They can’t be, since they bounce around so quickly from one to another—demonstrating an extraordinary level of talent. 

Their versatility is little short of awesome—but consistently funny, mind you, funny. 

One actor, for example, appears as a particularly slimy quiz show host, and minutes later is completely believable as a child-like character from “Lord of the Rings.” And then there’s the guy who plays President Bush... 

That playlet alone would justify the cost of a ticket. 

Speaking of which, the company has no illusions about the finances of their target audience in an area dominated by a student population. They’re committed to keeping their tickets comparable to the price of a movie. 

It’s a noble cause, even if they do find themselves pleading for alms from time to time.  

Perhaps one of the things that is most startling about this collection of theatrical bubbles is that the individual little plays are so fully developed. As brief as they are, almost all of them leave a sense of completion; you have seen a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

Equally so, the fact that they are selected from different authors, rather than being a display of works by an individual playwright, provides a variety of tone and style, as well as subject matter. The evening’s experience is far from that of having been jerked around from one playwright’s sensibility to another. It’s pleasant.  

It’s rather nice to go away from a theater having been entertained, not propagandized. 

Impact has a curious hook which presumably can bring an audience back to more than one performance, just out of curiosity. (And it’s nice to report that it’s possible to do that and still be amused all the way through—the actors are worth seeing more than one time). 

Eight of the playlets shown nightly remain the same, while the other two are alternated from one evening to the next. 

The advertisements can give guidance for the deeply committed.