You’ve heard of one-hit wonders – Right Said Fred, the Baha Men, Chumbawamba – but what about One Act Wonders?
That’s the name of the two-show set of one-act plays coming to Hatbox Theatre starting this Friday.
Presented by New World Theatre, One Act Wonders will feature the works of Concord playwright George Kelly and Manchester playwright Tom Z. Spencer. Kelly has written Two Lessons at the Bus Stop and Spencer’s play is called Whatever You Want.
Spencer’s play tells the story of a young man who taught himself English from one source – Shakespeare. The catch is that nobody else speaks in verse.
Kelly’s play is a bit more existential in nature. Because the description we were sent was a bit abstract, we got in touch with the man himself to find out more.
“The content of the play concerns a man who is in crisis on really the day that spring has arrived,” said Kelly, who has written six other plays and has been involved in the local theater scene for years.
“He begins to understand his own mortality, that he’s not gonna be around forever. It coincides with the newness of spring and how everything is renewing, and he begins to wonder how many more years he’s gonna be renewed.”
Basically, the man waiting for the bus is just wondering about what happens after death, and the two people he meets have very different opinions on whether or not there’s an afterlife.
If it all sounds a bit heavy, don’t worry.
“It’s not a totally serious play – it certainly has some comedy in it,” Kelly said.
The play is inspired by a real-life experience Kelly had at his home one day.
“I was in the middle of my garden planting flowers – the garden plays a significant role in this (play) because the older man is a gardener,” he said. “The thought came to me that a perennial is a flower that lasts, you can depend on a perennial. Annuals only last for a season. I made the parallel between perennials and annuals and human beings. Human beings are kind of annuals – we have a limited time on earth, and we have to make the best of it.”
So Kelly came up with the idea of the play, wrote it, directs it and will act in it, too. If not for actors Alan Lindsay and Tina Annis, it would be a one-act, one-man show – but alas, it is not.
In any event, if you’re interested in checking out a couple one-act plays, go to hatboxnh.com and get some tickets. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays (last show is June 25). Tickets are $16.50 or $13.50 for Hatbox members, seniors and students.
