The Barrow Group's annual Short Stuff series has explored issues from the war in Iraq to the undercurrent of fear in modern times. Now in its fifth incarnation, Short Stuff's six one-acts are united by gender: All the contributing playwrights are women. But while the theme is a pertinent one — the gender divide in the field of playwriting is still painfully present — the works reach their heights when gender issues take a back seat to drama.
This is most evident in the pair of monologues by Tricia Alexandro, both performed by Cristala Carter. While each involves a troubled pregnancy, Auntie Brenda sinks in the weighty nature of the plot, while Keisha is more fully developed, focusing on the title character's self-creation rather than her situation and allowing Carter's deft interpretation to shine. The other monologue in the series, Pops by Dee Ann Newkirk, is delivered by Alison Wright, whose nuanced portrait of a woman negotiating her own identity with her familial past is the most captivating performance of the evening.
Other offerings range from an entertainingly grim look at cubical chatter (Kate Hoffower's The Office) to an absurdist interpretation of entitled suburbia (Arlene Hutton's Man in the Basement) to Joan Ackermann's The Second Beam, a tired take on the trials of the endless audition circuit whose thinly veiled inspirational metaphors would fail to encourage even the most despondent of actors.
The piece that suffers the most, however, is Barbara Lindsay's An Actual Baby Person, which follows a young Goth couple as they prepare to greet their baby as its due date nears. Although the work challenges the popular notion of the Goth subculture, presenting the couple as sympathetic and warm, it only solidifies more-troubling stereotypical gender roles: The woman whines about doing the laundry while her husband lazes around the apartment. The presence of the piece at the end of a series of shorts by women is disconcerting; instead of reveling in how far women have come, it's a reminder of how far we still have to travel.
Presented by and at the Barrow Group,
312 W. 36th St., 3rd floor, NYC.
Nov. 7-24. Mon., Fri., and Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 5 and 8 p.m.
(212) 279-4488 or www.smarttix.com.