Laugh it up

The Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento has been the training ground for many of the area’s finest actors, and this evening of one-act comedies provides an opportunity to check out the skills of the latest talent to come through the program. It’s quite an undertaking: a rotating group of short plays with a total of 35 actors participating. The plays are selected from the works of both established playwrights (for example, Theresa Rebeck’s hilarious Train to Brooklyn) and relative unknowns, but all have in common a trend toward absurdity: a woman seeks the permission of her late husband to remarry, in front of her appalled fiancé; another wants to watch a “dress rehearsal” of her own funeral from the casket; a struggling startup must deal with a receptionist who has Broadway dreams; a pair of single women discuss one-night stands during a christening. With a mix of directors, including familiar local actors like Scott Divine and Tygar Hicks, as well as Actor’s Theatre founder Ed Claudio, the plays are streamlined, but retain all the space needed for some decent laughs.

A Comedy Ensemble, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $13-$15. The Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento at the Three Penny Theatre in the California Stage Complex at 1723 25th Street; (916) 501-6104. Through March 6.