The Pity of Things

Presented by a theater company germinated in 1981 to produce new one-acts (the company's name is an abbreviation for New One-Act Theatre Ensemble), these five short plays are a perfect homage to the troupe's fertile three decades of hard work and artistic innovation.

There's a bit of Williams, a dollop of Shepard, and a whole heap of Steppling in two of the pieces, presented as the opening and closing offerings surely with intention to bookend a remarkable evening. Delondra Williams' "Desert Aria," an eerily gothic vignette starkly directed by Christopher William Johnson, is highlighted by a haunting monologue performed to perfection by Alana Dietze and a few scary interludes from a demented David Guerra. The final play, Tommy Smith's "PTSD," directed by Sabina Ptasznik, returns us to another desert, this one a family's inability to transcend its individual senses of loss. Carl J. Johnson, Jason Denuszek, Alina Phelan, and Rebecca Sigl are heartbreaking as people unable to exorcise their personal demons despite their love for one another.

Despite a wonderful Pat Boone/Perry Como–infused soundtrack created by the evening's inspired sound designer, Ryan Brodkin, "The Little Darling," with Phinneas Kiyomura directing his own send-up of '50s suburbia, proves the most difficult of the five pieces to take pleasure in discovering, although the replacement of one of its three performers on the night reviewed might explain the disconnect.

The two most memorable offerings are Jason's Grote's "Kawaisoo," with Sabrina Lloyd directing Jennifer Weaver in a stellar turn as a woman "moving from fetishism to commodity love," using shopping to dim the pain of an ex already lost to her before perishing on 9/11; and Bill Robens' "Breaking," directed by Jaime Robledo, the cleverest and most hilarious play of all, featuring a knockout performance by the rubber-limbed Nicholas S. Williams as someone suffering from Breaking-the-Fourth-Wall Syndrome, much to the consternation of his family but to the delight of the eager audience.

Although NOTE no longer offers only new one-acts in its prolific repertoire, this return to how it all started is quite welcome, providing an opportunity to demonstrate what an unstoppable, multifaceted little gem of a company it is.

Presented by and at Theatre of Note, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. July 15–Aug. 7. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. (323) 856-8611. www.theatreofnote.com.