By Eva Trieger
ENCINITAS, California — Nicknamed the ADHD Festival by Director D.Candis Paule, the audience was warned, “If you don’t like what you’re watching, wait about three minutes and it’ll be over.” She was of course referring to the 2nd Annual 5 Minute Short Play Festival. About 125 people gathered at the Encinitas library Monday night, to enjoy 11 very short plays.
The CJC presented Straight from the Page, a staged reading series to showcase a variety of original plays written by national talents and local folks. The plays touched several aspects of Jewish life from shopping at Costco, to JDating, to Israeli bomb shelters to bat mitzvah. They were not necessarily written by Jewish authors, but all were imbued with themes, heritage and Jewish identity.
The troupe of six actors assumed many roles throughout the 11 short bits and Trent Ayers, Jill Drexler, Gabi Lebowitz, Erika Beth Phillips, Eric Poppick and John Rosen, entertained us without props or sets, but with fantastic facial expressions, voice inflection, and of course, requisite hand gestures.
Audience members recognized the exasperated wife and the nudgy husband sitting in a theater. “Goys shouldn’t perform Jewish plays!” and referring to singer Michael Buble, “He’s not Jewish—he’s Canadian.” In one piece, a man is on the annual quest for Hannukah candles, and of course, the non-Jewish clerk has no idea what he needs. In yet another sweet short, a woman visits a tailor to repair her grandmother’s wedding gown to wear to her granddaughter’s wedding. After showing her some costly options, the tailor tells her it’s a shmatah and she should buy herself a new dress.
However, the clear winner of the evening was “Save Me Now” written by local duo, Jonathan Rosenberg and Ilene Kruger. Through a series of miserable first dates, the variety of mismatches include a guy who does impressions of Marlon Brando, Jimmy Durante and Cary Grant. In another scenario, after the man orders a Caesar salad, his date sniffles and holds back a sob, “I’d rather you didn’t.” A bit puzzled he alters his order, and again she becomes teary. When he asks why, she recites from a dating manual, “Right now we’re here to get to know each other. In the future, I may be able to share that with you.” The hilarity continued in ways that anyone who has been on a bad date will surely relate to.
At the evening’s end, the audience voted for the top three plays, and lest you think it was easy, the degree of talent in scripts and portrayal was off the charts. I struggled with my choice for second and third place because so many were deserving. “The J Word” written by Harry Katcher, garnered second place and “Beef Au Jews” took third prize. The evening was truly a delight and I am already blocking out my calendar for the Third Annual Festival. This is truly too much fun and such an unexpected surprise…whether you have an attention deficit or not!
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Trieger is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts. You may comment to her at eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com or post your comment on this website provided the rules below are observed.
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Ilene Kruger and Jonathan Rosenberg are very talented in many ways. — Mimi Pollack, San Diego