Spin

Asked to write a one-act on the theme of “spin,” some of stageFARM’s commissioned playwrights went political (Judith Thompson imagined an interrogator rationalizing his techniques) while others went haywire (normally sturdy Adam Rapp ends the night with a meltdown about a rocker summoning the apocalypse). When all five plays sit on a bill, they never quite share a groove. Still, collections of one-acts work best as a horse race—we’re not there for a larger truth, we want to compare writers in full stride.

Out of the gate, things take an early tumble with Gina Gionfriddo’s mock-game-show wheeze America’s Got Tragedy. The contestants? A dead Iraq War vet and Britney Spears. Gionfriddo’s premise is the theatrical equivalent of a broken leg. Elizabeth Meriwether laps the others with 90 Days, a cold-eyed little gem about a recovering addict (Patch Darragh) on the phone with his ladylove. Meriwether is a body length ahead of the others in capitalizing on the format’s simplicity.

Mark Schultz, on the other hand, overstuffs. In Fun, a puppyish porn star (Darragh, amazing again) connects with a budding young ingenue. Schultz brings the clever and the creepy, but he never manages a sense of shape. Throughout, directors Evan Cabnet and Alex Kilgore keep things whipping along, although Thompson’s inert monologue resists all attempts, and no logical mind could work through Rapp’s whacked-out doodle. A night at the races doesn’t always pay off. Next time at the tracks, bet on Meriwether to win.