EPOCH; 4 Short Plays

Written and directed by James Comfort II

Review by Harley Manning

The End of Love, and the Beginning, and . . .

This energetic set of four short plays, each with a cast of two or three, by local filmmaker James Comfort II was met by a big, enthusiastic audience on its opening night.

Comfort is a graduate and now teaching assistant at the Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca (AWI), from which he drew many of his eight cast members (A.J. Sage appeared in two plays). The actors’ training was obvious; they were all fully committed to their characters.

The opening piece, “The Girl Who Died in the Fire,” is more of a scene study than a play, a most interesting flirtation between two very damaged characters. I found the Hollywood ending to be somewhat hollow and vaguely disappointing (to me as audience member, not to the characters, but it will probably appeal to many viewers. The actors, Adrienne Huffman and Scott Rougeau, are well cast, with believable chemistry.

The second piece, “Everclear,” is the one I found most satisfying and layered. A. J. Sage and Karlem Sivira play a young Indiana couple on the last evening of their vacation in Paris, for which they’ve spent two-and-a-half years saving up from their salaries at boring, dead-end jobs. The piece starts out as they return exuberantly from a shopping spree, during which Everclear, the woman, has spent a small fortune on scarves for herself along the Champs Elysée. The evening takes a decided turn. A. J. Sage is especially strong in this piece, and on opening night, Sivira rose to match him by the denouement.

“An Ordinary Girl” features Ali Diemecke and Alisar Awwad, and A. J. Sage, and touches on themes of domination, intimidation, body image, and “cultural” pressures.

“Dirty Love” features two likeable actors, Ian Remmers (Man) and Saramoira Shields (Woman), in alternating monologues about their characters’ desires for passionate, angry, healing, powerful, all-consuming, lasting love and their failed attempts to find it. While it’s not groundbreaking theatrically, it showcases two talented actors in a story that left the audience feeling upbeat, engaged, and very satisfied.