It's that time of year again - the Hollywood Fringe Fest is celebrating its third year, and all your fake actor friends who only contact you when they have seats to fill will be loading up your inbox with invites.
Step one: Delete all the invites from fake friends
Step two: Consider the plays your REAL friends have invited you to
Step three: Go see 25 Plays Per Hour at Theatre Asylum
Step four: Reconsider the plays that your REAL friends invited you to, and then decide to adopt a shelter dog instead
Why? Because dogs are amazing, and 25 Plays Per Hour is funny. And that says a lot, because let's face it: most plays are bad and no one wants to see them. It costs money, precious weekend time and forces you to perform that fake praise in the lobby afterward. The latter which is so awkward, my coworker can't bear to befriend actors. So what a breath of fresh air to find a play that made me laugh out loud, and not care about the wannabe creative types in the audience who were too "cool" (insecure) to be the first to laugh.
While I do harbor the concern that play's creators might hate women, it's not a dark Dostoyevsky-type hatred. It's more of a funny hatred, poking only at the surface (girls as cliche: whiny, insecure, talkative). The Theatre Unleashed troupe brought a lot to the table as well. Who would think to combine the likes of Jack the Ripper and Typhoid Mary in a scene? Before acting even took place, the announcement of these two characters being thrown together caused ripples of laughter through the audience. Lee Pollero, a nimble and Kennedy-like actor in the troupe, thought to combine the dialogue of two men, (one a gay porn star and the other a macho vet) with them simultaneously offering a word-for-word account of two completely different experiences (an on-camera sex act and Vietnam combat, respectively). Hilarious.
The acting was impeccable. Sean Fitzgerald having a nervous breakdown during a TV commercial taping (he's just giving the TVs away - literally) was electric. Corey Howe was endearing and Tracey Collins is a natural on stage.
Seeing your friends in a play doesn't always have to be painful. Drop the Cringe fest and see this play!
