The Helltown Players is a self-described “collaborative of dramatists and theater enthusiasts from the Outer Cape” who, inspired by those historic rebels the Provincetown Players, aim to produce plays “written by and performed for the people of Cape Cod.” Little Devils, a program of six short plays, is the group’s first production since its founding last spring. It’s playing through Feb. 18 at the Provincetown Theater, then moves to the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans from Feb. 29 to March 10.
The six plays run back-to-back without a break for 90 minutes. Five are two-person one-acts; one has three characters. They are all ironic and satirical, with some aiming mostly for laughs and others for pathos. Though ostensibly unrelated, they fit together as moral tales of contemporary foibles, covering issues that can be both trivial and serious. There are scheduled switches in the cast — sometimes altering the gender of a role — on different dates and especially between Provincetown and Orleans (see details at helltownplayers.org). This review reflects last Friday’s performance at the Provincetown Theater.
The program opens with “Karen” by Fermin Rojas, which is having its premiere, directed by Jess Wilson. Amari (Lauren Foster), a social media “influencer” — someone whose online posts can generate sizable income based on the number of hits and subscribers — is wandering through Whole Foods to meet up with Rochelle (Eden Allegretti). It’s a fraught encounter, because these two relative strangers are suing each other over Amari’s posts of Rochelle’s behavior in an incident involving Rochelle’s dog. It’s reminiscent of an actual incident in Manhattan’s Central Park several years ago in which a Black man told a white woman to leash her dog, and her racist reaction, caught on his phone, created a national furor.
Rojas isn’t pointing fingers here, though the bigotry is certainly real: “Karen” exposes what fools these mortals be, especially when they meet in person without the benefit of internet distancing. And you don’t have to be a Karen-variety airhead to savor it.
Next is “19DEF” by Ian Ryan, which had its debut at the Cape Rep Playwriting Lab. Ryan directed and stars as Sean, a man making a sad plane flight home. He’s sitting next to a young person (Wil Moser) who is bedecked with bling, plugged in, and oblivious, all the while making enough noise and movements in close quarters to test a Buddhist monk’s patience. The play is tightly written, funny, and powerful in surprising ways, and Ryan and Moser are perfectly in synch.
We move from plane to train with “Dump,” written by Gary Garrison and directed by Rebecca Berger, previously performed at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City and the New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts. The play is essentially a conversation, set on a New York City subway, between Pauley (Eden Allegretti), a young woman who is the caretaker of her father with Alzheimer’s, and Corin (Peter Toto), her best friend. At one point, Corin notices that Pauley’s father has gone missing from the train, but Pauley is so exhausted she seems incapable of reacting.
Coming out of that strange and affecting urgency, we jump to “A Twist of Lemon” by Lynda Sturner, directed by Jess Wilson. Fermin Rojas is Joey, a New York City bartender visited by Binnie (Alison Blake), a Park Avenue matron, who turns out to be his long-lost high-school sweetheart. The two have a tête-à-tête that’s both charming and awkward, a flirtation that’s summed up in a martini order (both shaken and stirred, perhaps). Sturner wrote the play a decade ago, based on an actual encounter, for the Provincetown Theater Lab. In the hands of Rojas and Blake, it still feels fresh.
Then there is “Triangulation,” by Meryl Cohn, directed by Rebecca Berger. First produced at the Boston Playwrights Theater, it deals with a psychiatrist, Dr. Brightstein (Randy Doyle), and his 10 a.m. appointment with young Max (Wil Moser). The session is interrupted mid-dream by a woman (Eden Allegretti) who is late for her own appointment with Dr. Brightstein and keen on discussing her problems forthwith. The farcical mix-up that results is well played and thoroughly amusing — Moser takes the physical comedy to neurotic heights.
The capper of the night is Jim Dalglish’s “Double D,” which he directed himself — a 20-year-old gem from festivals at the Provincetown Theater and Globe Theater in New York City. In it, a woman named Mary (Bonnie Fairbanks) has a high-heels malfunction on the way to her stepsister’s engagement party. Her desperate need for a shoe store that stocks size-12, DD-width pumps is answered by a reluctant but ultimately accommodating Bill Salem. When this bawdy Cinderella finally fits into her glass slipper, a marvelously performed explosion of enthusiasm ensues, with Gloria Gaynor supplying the disco oomph.
It’s a grand old climax to a strong evening of entertaining theater — a nice jolt of homegrown talent for the wintry off-season.
Sextet From Helltown
The event: Little Devils, six short plays by the Helltown Players
The time: Through Feb. 18 in Provincetown; Feb. 29 through March 10 in Orleans: Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.
The place: Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St.; Academy of Performing Arts, 120 Main St., Orleans
