Short Attention Span Theater will grab yours
Admit it, everyone nowadays has a short attention span. Thank goodness The Red Barn Theatre embraces – dare say, celebrates – the fact with wit, aplomb and vigor. Imagine a play where audiences forget about checking their phone or popping a Ritalin? Fast-paced and funny, Red Barn’s The Short Attention Span Theater is an artfully crafted live version of YouTube.
The mood is set by the first play, “Rules of Comedy,” a funny discussion about creating comedy by two very unfunny people played by Lisa Monda and newcomer Cody Borah. Automatically, the audience begins to analyze the concept of humor. Then in walks Flipper in the second piece. “Flipper’s Comeback” is a delightful exchange between veteran actors Marjorie Shook as Flipper’s agent and Gordon Mackey as Flipper, absurd costume and all. Next up, naturally, come vampires in “Bite Me,” with the hilarious Erin McKenna, Aramis Ikatu and Borah. Nothing says love like some blood and a cage.
The fourth play, “Dirty Laundry,” is the most thought provoking, written by the late Shel Silverstein. Mackey and Susannah Wells handle this nuanced and smart vignette with astute timing and sincere acting. “The Anthropology Section” is the fifth play, starring McKenna and Monda as dueling former lesbian lovers, satirizing romantic spats. And the evening ends with “Serendipity.” The whole cast outdoes itself with funny one liners and a bit of slapstick. Each play lampoons, mocks and pokes at a little bit of everybody – making sure to get either a rise or laugh out of the best of us.
To keep the evening moving, Susannah Wells directs a light-hearted five-part video. Starring Marky Pierson and Morgan Fraga, the videos, titled “Brief Encounters” play between each sketch to keep the audience’s short attention span occupied. The story is reminiscent of a dream sequence that might occur after a night at Fantasy Fest. Adorably Key West in nature, Wells captures a cheeky look at how aliens can change our lives.
Short Attention Span satisfies the theater-goer who wants to laugh out loud and have immediate gratification in 10 minutes or less. Worth the trip for a campy, fun evening out and just enough thought-provoking wit to keep the audience’s attention, if only for one night.
Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com/tickets or the box office at 305-296-9911.
Short Attention Span Theater
April 25-May 13
8 p.m.
redbarntheatre.com/tickets
Why are rabbis always walking into a bar?” — Lisa Monda as Caroline, in “Rules of Comedy”
