Love lost and found is at the heart of the best works in Ensemble Studio Theatre’s “34th Marathon of One-Act Plays.” The first in its annual three-part series is a better-than-usual bill, despite a disappointing effort by John Patrick Shanley, the best-known playwright (“Doubt”) on the roster.
More affecting was Daniel Reitz’s “You Belong to Me,” about a chance meeting on the subway between former lovers Susan (Patricia Randell) and Robby (Scott Parkinson), who’ve clearly gone down disparate paths. She’s divorced, single and working for the Public Art Fund. He’s shabby and homeless.
“Be careful,” he warns her, as she leans in for an embrace, “I’m hygienically challenged.”
Yet it’s clear, as they talk, that there’s still a vital connection between them. Beautifully performed, this is a quiet gem that will make you think twice about the next homeless soul you encounter.
Another highlight is Joshua Conkel’s “Curmudgeons in Love,” in which Ralph (a hilarious David Margulies), now in assisted living, is visited by his 40-ish granddaughter Robin (Nina Hellman), who’s clearly disappointed with her own life.
“Assisted living has a nice ring to it,” she sighs.
Widowed after a half-century of marriage, Ralph has found an unlikely new love in Jackie (Martin Shakar), a male octogenarian with a hunky grandson (Alex Manette) who offers Robin a chance at romance. With dialogue so profane it would make David Mamet blush, it’s an off-kilter, alter-kocker love story.
The remaining works on the program are less effective. Shanley’s “Poison” is a darkly comic effort about an embittered woman (Alicia Goranson, once Becky on TV’s “Roseanne”) who asks a fortune-teller (Jacqueline Antaramian) to help her win back her former lover (Aaron Serotsky) with a mysterious potion. Dan O’Brien’s “Kandahar to Canada,” based on a true story, is a brief anecdote about a war photographer (Jay Patterson) escorting a young Afghan woman (Lily Balsen) to Canada to attend university. And Eric Dufault’s “Something Fine,” about a woman trucker who interrupts a robbery, is at its funny best when offering its very human portrayals of the Virgin Mary (Diana Ruppe) and Hula Girl (Lucy DeVito, daughter of Danny) — figurines on her dashboard.
It’s a mixed bag as usual for these compilations. This time, though, the pleasures delivered by the best outweigh the disappointments of the rest.