Quick! That time of year for Live Girls

 Kasey Harrison, Matt Aguayo, Allison Yolo (photo by Steven Sterne)

Quickies 15
Live Girls! Theater
(at Theatre Off Jackson)
through May 10

Live Girls! Theater is presenting its 15th Annual iteration of Quickies, the short play program written only by women. It is always a well-produced evening, with choreographed and planned set changes that are integrated into the entire evening rather than apologetically or unapologetically and unartfully done in half light.

This year the offerings themselves are not as strong as some years, though a couple of them are very strong and well done. There are seven plays, four in the first act and three in the second. Also, you might win a prize after intermission for paying close attention to the first four plays! The theme this year was science and magic.



Cubicles and Cancer: an RPG is by Chloe Mason. This was a great opener with an ogre, a dwarf, a hobbit (I think) and an elf playing a role-playing game about our current world. There is no magic in the world of America, to the chagrin and amazement of the players. It was a quick and fun commentary on our world.

Paper & Ink is a short iteration of steampunk by Seattle's resident steampunktress Maggie Lee. This was a spooky introduction to a magic book that an older sister wants to read while a younger sister warns that it may have been the reason their mother went mad years ago. The situation was instantly understandable and the ending made sense.

American Mastodon is by Carolyn Kras. This is one of the least successful. It was about a mastodon in a museum and....a woman who wants to eat Funyuns next to the mastodon.

Cantaloupe is by Seayoung Yim. The premise is that a young woman turns people into cantaloupes when she's irritated, apparently. This one also did not really work well.

Taco Spell is by Kelsey Wilk and melded Harry Potter minutae with modern women. It had funny moments, especially the low-tech magic wand action.

Hot by Ann Eisenberg is a departure from anything else. It had actual older actors and a theme older audience members would appreciate. A long-married couple accidentally discover their neighbor having outdoor sex and react variously to it. It was beautifully written and funny.

The Light Patterns of Strangers is by Megan Lohne. While it dealt with characters you don't see on stage ever: two blind people, the premise or execution washed it so completely out of mind that I had to look it up to remember it, at all. Once I did, I remembered liking who it was about, but it was a rather weak ending to the evening.

You know what they say about short play evenings...If you don't like what you're seeing, wait a few minutes and you may well like the next thing. You can visit Live Girls! Theater or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/628709 for tickets.