The acclaimed troupe Theater Breaking Through Barriers offers something you won’t find anywhere else: Its works revolve around disability — which is only appropriate, since some of its members get around in wheelchairs.
Other disabilities are harder to see.
That’s the case with its new evening of one-acts, written by such notable playwrights as Neil LaBute (“Reasons To Be Happy”) and Samuel D. Hunter, whose play “The Whale,” about a morbidly obese shut-in, was one of the highlights of off-Broadway’s last season.
The same can be said for his contribution here, “Good Beer,” about a blind date between the wheelchair-bound Shannon (Shannon DeVido) and David (David Harrell). Though David knew what he’d find beforehand, he’s clearly uncomfortable when they meet.
“It’s different in person,” he sputters, adding, “I swear, I’m a better person than this.” Featuring a delicious plot twist, “Good Beer” is a touching and funny piece enhanced by DeVido’s sensitive performance.
Another standout is Lynn Manning’s “Playing the Card,” a wry sketch set at an access transit evaluation center, where a wheelchair-bound man advises a blind applicant how to increase his chances for approval. “You got to dress down and dumb down,” he tells the sharply dressed man, who recoils at having to play “the crip card.”
Other pieces are less successful. LaBute’s “Call Back,” about the uncomfortable reunion between an actor (Jonathan Todd Ross) and the woman he didn’t bother to call after a one-night stand, rehashes the playwright’s favorite theme, the war between the sexes. Another playlet, Jerrod Bogard’s “Supernova in Reseda,” boasts a guest appearance by Tony winner Tonya Pinkins but not much else in its story about an elderly actor scheming to be included in the Academy Awards’ annual “In Memoriam” segment.
As thought-provoking as they are amusing, the best pieces in this fast-paced program succeed at what the company hopes to do: make us look at the disabled with fresh eyes.