Five times one

A cold, unforgiving light beats down on two figures dressed in late-1800s cowboy garb. The taller of the two cuts a dashing portrait, dressed in black save for a white dress shirt crisply topped with a tightened black bow tie. He is the epitome of style, attitude and virtue. Next to him is a smaller man in a dirty white shirt, worn leather chaps and jeans on the verge of falling into a pile of rags. The two discuss the joys of robbery, rape and cold-blooded murder.

From there the evening goes on to feature a sexually repressed Little Red Riding Hood, an irresistible wolf dressed as a ’70s-style swinger, a schizophrenic mother, revengeful barflies and three big-city college girls facing the harsh reality of being adults.

The Actor’s Workshop presents A Festival of One Acts, directed and performed, for the first time, entirely by members of the Workshop. The five one acts range from a farce-like spoof of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale to the startlingly dramatic world debut of Small Talk, written by local playwright Peter Storey.

With above-par performances from local actors Rick Snow, Mary Strong, Greta Gerwig and Actor’s Workshop regular Beth Edwards, the evening holds barely a dull moment.

An Evening of One Acts will prove great fun for those with both a taste for adventure and an offbeat sense of humor. But plan on a babysitter—as this show definitely isn’t for the kids.