Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Ben Brown-Steiner The Sea Monster, played by Steven Terrill, attempts to frighten Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate with his ship-destroying fearsomeness or his tall shadow. "Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate" was one of four plays in this years' one acts.

Ah, the Clarkson Theater Company (CTC) one acts. If you haven't ever been to one, you are missing out on one of the most unique shows in the world. Having gone to pretty much all of them, I'd also say that they are very consistent. That is to say, every year, without fail, the quality of the acts will be all over the map.

Chances are, you didn't see this sparsely advertised production, either because it's in downtown Snell at Clarkson's only auditorium, because you didn't realize it was so worth your time, or because you didn't realize it was happening. Friday night's showing was cancelled due to the hailing rain/snow. The audience at the matinee showing that I attended was smaller than the cast of half the plays. There was a larger audience, though, for the later show.

But the plays! Well.

"Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate" was mostly what you'd expect - pirates, sea-monsters, humor. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Ben Baker, dressed in a fluorescent pink robe and speaking in a slow falsetto, captured the stage for the brief period he was on it.

"Heart Attack Man" was as clever and full of meaning as its Pynchonesque roots. Jeff Ward wrote the play and acted for the first time in it. I especially liked Ben Durfee's performance (and hat) as the wizard Dedekind, and Nora Davis as Grrr Tiger.

"Eating Out" was a play about eating disorders, and, frankly, it was really well done. Kyleigh Gloska, Tosca Chiro, and Niall Mangan played women with interchanging dialogues about dealing with weight and weight loss.

No theater production goes without an intermission by Dick Church. I'm liking his recent move from the harmonica to a CD with a jazz band on it.

And no one act is complete without some play lampooning the theater. Without Cip Mills, could CTC pull it off? Where would they find their material? In "The Flight of the Lesbian Jazz Singer: The Motion Picture: The Musical" they've shown that the magic is still there, if you know what they're talking about. Unless you're in CTC, you probably don't understand jokes about submitting receipts for reimbursements, but everyone can understand the insightful discussion questions associated with this play: "This play was intended as a comment on the impossibility of classical relativity in the strictest sense, but how many whales would it really take to severely bother a group of walruses?"

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