One-act play fest a crown jewel of theater season

To expect the unexpected at the annual LaBute New Theater Festival in St. Louis has become customary, now that the intriguing one-act play festival is in its fourth year.

The annual event, produced by St. Louis Actors' Studio, features previously unproduced plays, all 45 minutes or less, chosen from submissions from all over the U.S. and sometimes other countries as well. Comedies with bite and dramas with punch are mixed in the line-up.

The renowned playwright Neil LaBute serves on the jury, is proud to have his name and reputation associated with it, and premieres a new work here every summer.

The format during the month of July is that the Part I runs over the first two weekends, and Part II the next two, but LaBute's latest original one-act is performed during both legs.

This year, his rumination on what is art, called "Life Model," is a thought-provoking confrontational conversation between an artist and the nude model who has been paid to come to her home every week for awhile.

The two women get into a heated and rather incendiary debate after the artist peeks at the artist's sketchpad and discovers very rudimentary and primitive drawings.

Jenny Smith is disarming as the artist, with her sweet maternal demeanor, who is not what she seems. Bridgette Bassa projects outrage as a nude model who feels taken advantage of by her employer. Director John Pierson carefully builds the tension.

As with all LaBute works, he is a master of structure. He establishes a sense of place and time, and the verbal volleyball is first subtle, polite or innocuous, and then pow! The sharp, shrewd dialogue often feels like a gut punch.

Among the three other plays in Part II, the standout is quirky "Blue Balls" by Willie Johnson, which features two strong performances by actors who are new to the festival, but have a spirited chemistry together. Eric Dean White is a nervous first date and a feisty Ryan Scott Foizey as the son of the woman he's asked out.

As they wait in the living room, the conversation becomes contentious, and the build-up is shrewdly directed by Patrick Huber.

Foizey interjects some humor into his intensity as he portrays the wheelchair-bound bitter young man. White adroitly conveys the anxiousness of a guy caught off-guard by the confrontation.

"Show of Affection" by Laurence Klavan offers comical and absurd twists in a familial Thanksgiving Dinner setting. You might not think of pumpkin cheesecake in the same way again.

The women — Emily Baker as the mom and Bridgette Bassa as the daughter — deliver blood-curdling screams and airs of mystery. The men are less dramatic — David Wassilak is the deadpan dad, seemingly in denial, and Ryan Foizey is the social activist son. Punching up the humor, Huber directed this challenging piece, which had more action and more scene shifts than the others.

"American Outlaws" by Adam Seidel brings an unlikely duo together —- a husband and the guy having an affair with his wife. It takes unexpected dark turns, but actors Eric Dean White and David Wassilak are such solid performers that they take you down the winding road, not knowing what to expect. Pierson directed, keeping it brisk.

In the first batch, the best was "Mark My Worms" by Cary Pepper, an extremely clever flip on a play rehearsal, where the writer's brilliant script has a number of typos, so the words must be recited "as is," because of the contract.

Eric Dean White and Emily Baker were quick with timing and smooth with delivery as the actors who must say the wrong words. Wackiness ensued. I still chuckle at White shouting "Hoot!" instead of "Shoot!" David Wassilak gave a droll performance as the director keeping them in line with the script. It was directed with flair by Michael Hogan.

Hogan also sharply directed a serious piece called "Winter Break," with smart writing by James Haigney, that reflected the times. A mother (Jenny Smith) and brother (Ryan Foizey) do not want their Muslim convert daughter and sister (Leerin Campbell) traveling to the Mideast over her college break. Arguments and reasoning were handled fluidly by the performers.

"Fire Sans Matches" was another comic piece, directed by John Pierson, about a fractured family on a camping trip from hell. Emily Baker was the exasperated mother and White was the disappointed dad, with Jeremy Pinson as their surly son.

The LaBute New Theater Festival is a crown jewel of the theater season, and a welcome experience every summer.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 1:14 PM with the headline "One-act play fest a crown jewel of theater season."