Maskers offer wacky, cool package> Troupe stages one-act plays

If you’re used to watching a series of TV shows over the course of one evening, then the Belfast Maskers, a small theater troupe with big talent, has a wacky treat for you. And, thankfully, it’s not TV shows, but a live series of short one-acts packed with hilarity, intelligence, poignancy and good ol’ down-home theatricality.

The evening is billed as “5 or 6 culturally cool one-act plays somewhat bizarrely staged by untold numbers of Belfast Maskers.” Pardon my un-coolness, but it’s probably good for you to know there are six plays that last a total of three hours. Most of these works are ones you won’t generally see at other theaters in Maine. With the exception of college campuses, theaters don’t want to take the risk of presenting modern works because some can, indeed, be bizarre, and bizarre doesn’t always sell well.

But as the Maskers newly appointed artistic director, Gardner Howes, has adeptly proved, bizarre can be terrifically entertaining. Howes takes the credit for choosing the plays, which include Samuel Beckett’s “Ohio Impromptu” and “Theatre 1,” Arthur Miller’s “I Can’t Remember Anything,” Chirstopher Durang’s “Actor’s Nightmare,” Adam Lefevre’s “Americansaint,” and Ara Watson’s “Final Placement.” And presumably, Howes can take some credit for the straightforwardness of the overall production. Whatever flaws there might be in the evening, they are overridden by the dedication and sincerity of the performers.

In addition to producing the evening, Howes directed the Miller play and performs, with former Maskers artistic director, Basil Burwell, in “Ohio Impromptu.” The other plays were directed by other directors, have other sets and other casts. It is a kaleidoscopic event executed with simplicity, wit and sophistication by this community theater.

It would be hard to pick a highlight among the generally admirable performances for this group of plays, although both Beckett pieces would surely get even Beckett’s stamp of approval (and he was no easy man to please).

Burwell and Howes play two aspects of a single self in “Ohio Impromptu” and are intense, comical and understated. In addition to acting in the play, Burwell directed it, too.

Perry Breiger and Phil Price are simply brilliant in “Theatre 1,” directed by Randy George, in which they play two debilitated men whose lives join in compassion and tyranny. These two senior actors gave unusually provocative performances, filled with heart, guts and solid understanding of what it means to be in the avant-garde world of a Beckett play.

Laurie R. Glidden, who plays a quirky girl reputed to have miraculous powers in “Americansaint,” directed by Andrea Stark, gives a crisp performance in this surreally funny play about a young Catholic brother on a botched-up journey to find a saint to canonize.

In “Final Placement,” directed by Peter Conant, a social worker and a young client grab at each other’s souls when the client comes to reclaim her child, who has been removed from his home because of violent abuse.

Conant, by the way, has done an incredible job at building the sets for the evening. He keeps them basic, but they are always functional, believable, and suitable.

Arthur Miller’s “I Can’t Remember Anything” is filled with humorous zingers between an old man and a half-mad woman whose lives are joined because of a man they both loved — his best friend and her husband — who, at the time of the play, is dead. It’s almost too funny to report that Lucille Iverson, as the woman, could not remember her lines through much of the opening night’s performance, but her fumbling actually didn’t ruin the play. And William Nelson, opposite her, handled himself with so much control that the play never completely lost its momentum.

The final piece, “An Actor’s Nightmare,” directed by Hal Owen, is a very funny tale about an accountant who unexplainably finds himself cast as an actor who must perform in plays for which he knows none of his lines and none of the other actors.

By the end of the evening, it’s a bit much to expect the audience to sit through this somewhat longer piece, entertaining though it is. Fortunately, the actors in this six-person cast keep their energy high and their comic bits work for the most part.

It might have been culturally cooler to keep the evening at five one-act plays. But the series is such a blast, and the theater is such a warm and welcoming space, that it’s worth giving this spirited community group the extra time.

The Belfast Maskers will perform culturally cool one-act plays 8 p.m. March 24 and 25, and 2 p.m. March 26 at the Railroad Theater. For information, call 338-9668.