With Carly Simon's wistful pop ballads in the background and a glimpse into the a low-rent Rhode Island apartment, the stage is set for an evening of Edward Allan Baker's early one-acts: a pair of two-handers focusing on sibling relationships seemingly broken beyond repair. Or are they? While the maybe too-similar themes and freewheeling histrionics within these plays makes them, together, somewhat relentless, there's wonderful stuff here for actors to chew on. And this new company does it without reservations.
In Baker's "Dolores," we see Sandra (a delightfully composed Christine Ostrander) enjoying a Sunday alone in the apartment, doing laundry and smoking a cigarette—or two, or more—sans hubby and kids. But her oasis is soon shattered by her black-sheep sister, Dolores, banging on her door, sporting a black eye. It's not the first instance of Dolores playing a punching bag, we learn. "How many more fucked-up guys you gonna marry?" asks Sandra, far more interested in reclaiming her alone time than in consoling her sister. Katie Kocis' Dolores has a grating, pathetic puppy charm that works perfectly here. Under Stephanie Feury's finely tuned direction, the actors paint a sometimes wickedly funny, ultimately touching portrait of sisters caught up in cycle of violence who may learn to take shelter in each other. Feury's smart use of the space and attention to detail serves this piece well, as do the stonewashed and big-hair touches in Nora Wilde's 1980s costume design for both plays.
In "North of Providence," overachieving sister Carol (Jodi Rosenthal) ambushes her depressed, do-nothing brother Bobbie (Michael Maize), hoping to drag him out of bed on the day their father's dying in the hospital. Baker's deliciously dark material is more problematic here, as the play itself is somewhat overextended in regard to subject matter and—paired with the previous one-act—too familiar. So while both performers are appealing—in a deeply dysfunctional way, Rosenthal in particular finding wonderful kernels of subtlety in her character—and the playwright throws surprises at us, "North of Providence" ends up feeling a bit indulgent all around.
Presented by SFS Theatre Company at the SFS Theatre, 5636 Melrose Ave., L.A. Feb. 24–March 27. Wed., Fri., Sat., 8 p.m. (Dark Sat., 8 p.m., March 20.) (323) 463-7378. www.sfstheatre.com.
