Leave your linear thinking in the car, resist all urges to analyze, and gorge your theatrical appetite on an exceptional evening of laughter at “All in the Timing,” by David Ives, playing at the Ojai Art Center Theater on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through May 15.
Directed by Steve Grumette, the “All in the Timing” one-acts are a special add-on to the regular OACT’s production season and all ticket sales benefit the Theater Branch. Season ticketholders receive admission as part of their season subscription.
If David Ives is new to you, or if you’ve waited for the chance to see his work, now is the time to let this “wordsmithing” genius reaffirm your conviction that just because plays are presented in a box, doesn’t mean playwrights need to think inside them. In this evening of five of the funniest Ives’ plays, he explores “Variations on the Death of Trotsky,” “Mere Mortals,” “The Philadelphia,” “Sure Thing,” and “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread.” It’s tough to pull out a favorite.
Five actors familiar to Ventura County community theater audiences (including Director Grumette) assay 15 different roles, changing characters and accents as easily as they change their costumes. Chief among them is Anna Kotula, Grumette’s frequent onstage muse. Notable among their past theatrical partnerships are productions of “Shirley Valentine” and “The Belle of Amherst,” two one-woman shows that displayed Kotula’s exceptional range as an actress.
Here, too, she gets a chance to shine, appearing in all but one of the evening’s witty offerings. She and Grumette are appropriately “socialist” — and very funny — as Mr. and Mrs. Leon Trotsky, puzzling over a disturbing entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica. They team up again in a restaurant scene with character actor Larry Swartz, who’s having a “Life in Hell” meets “Alice in Wonderland” sort of a day, in “The Philadelphia.”
In “Sure Thing,” Kotula and Daniel Ruark adroitly travel and unravel a casual café pick-up encounter and never drop a stitch as Betty and Bill. The men score hits again in the wonderfully absurd “Mere Mortals,” whereby a lunch box-ing trio of construction workers makes some startling revelations over liverwurst — or is it tuna?
Then there’s “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread,” a … well… a Philip Glass-esque, minimalist vocal and movement send up of… well… Philip Glass. Don’t analyze it — just go with it. This play brings in Sherry Owen, the fifth player in the ensemble.
The evening includes an unexpected “mystery” highlight – not divulged here. It’s available for the price of a ticket. General admission is $20, and $18 for students, seniors, and Art Center members. Make reservations online or by calling 805-640-8797.