Playwright: Steven Simoncic, Tate A. Geborkoff, Joshua Rollins, Lisa Dillman, Nambi E. Kelley. At: Step Up Productions at the Athenaeum, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Tickets: 773-935-6875; www.athenaeumtheatre.org; $30. Runs through: Dec. 22
Being introduced to five 15-minute plays by five authors in a show billing itself “HoliDaze”—a banner leading us to expect a sketch-comedy revue—is not unlike meeting strangers at a cocktail party. Social protocol dictating barely a glimpse before each new person dutifully disappears into the festive swirl/scrum, our immediate response usually runs to three questions: What were these people previous to this moment? What will happen to them afterward? Do we care?
Lisa Dillman’s contribution to the roster requires little such contemplation, being a Renaissance Faire-style slapstick skit involving a predictably lovesick Fool and saucy Wench, its sole purpose to end the evening with a merry revel. Joshua Rollins’ more ambitious dialogue proposes a couple whose relationship undergoes crisis when a furry urban scavenger invades their apartment, but concludes with the lovers’ and the unidentified critter’s dilemma unresolved (the play’s title, just in case the metaphor isn’t obvious enough, is “The Intruder”).
Resolution, on the other hand, is what drives Nambi E. Kelley’s densely textured drama of siblings estranged by the death of their mother, whose ghost returns on Christmas Eve to comfort, entreat and nag her offspring into filial harmony (or a first step thereto, at least). At Tate A. Geborkoff’s holiday gala, the bickering mother and boyfriend of the gay host, after hurling champagne at one another, renew their truce for the sake of the boy they both love. Finally, Steven Simoncic brings together a pair of damaged singles on a Christian Mingle-sponsored date—neither of whom is especially pious, but simply looking to make a new start in life.
Whether these characters pique your interest will likely depend on your own approach to Christmas (sentiments regarding family obligations or romantic imperatives, for example), but the professional expertise brought to this anthology by the 13 actors and five directors is undeniable. Gina Taliafero and Nadirah Bost portray a memorable pair of feisty matriarchs (the latter of whom departs this temporal world following a last meal of her favorite forbidden foods—you go, girl!), while Andy Luther and Amanda Dahl Powell deftly evade the stereotypes associated with faith-based matchmaker services to lend their blind date dynamic a kindness and sensitivity rarely seen in scenarios of this genre, spurring us (me, anyway) to wonder how their story turned out.