Every year, the “Summer Shorts” series introduces six new American one-act plays. While the three pieces in this season’s first batch are, by definition, brief, two are so slow that you may wonder if time can actually stop, or whether drying paint would be more fun.
As for the third, it’s a reasonably entertaining solo, but it doesn’t go very far.
That would be “The Accidental Pundette,” in which writer-performer Nancy Giles, a longtime commentator on CBS’ “Sunday Morning,” recounts a guest spot on a heated show with Larry King.
Some of the funniest moments are drawn from Giles’ experience as an actress (“China Beach” fans may remember her as Private Frankie Bunsen). A rendering of the standard “Law & Order” audition for black women is particularly spot-on.
The evening’s other entries are more ambitious, but these well-meaning miniatures don’t amount to much.
In Wendy Kesselman’s curtain-raiser “Spit,” an elderly black man (Arthur French) and a teenage white girl (India Ennenga) strike up a friendship after meeting in a championship game of spit. That someone will learn a life lesson is just as preordained as the sun rising in the east.
The sensitive performances by both actors almost make us believe in this unlikely pairing, but the play is weakened by its maddening lack of specifics — where are they, exactly? — and obvious sentiment.
The meatiest offering is the late James McLure’s “Drive-In Dreams,” about a double date in 1969 Texas.
Most of the play is about negotiating — how far will the girls go? But while Vietnam looms in the background, the characters are so cookie-cutter (icy blonde/sassy brunette, football-team captain/jokester pal) that we don’t get any sense of the stakes.
Better luck in “Series B,” which opens next week.