In the one-act collection, Mind Games, Reverse Psychology (by George Freek) works on nice guy Ren Pearson’s approach to a job as Michael, who’s been told by fiance Sara (Samanta Centerbar, adamant) that he has to be more assertive. In an interview with Steve Bikfalvy’s surprising Charles, Michael is asked to seduce Charles’s wife Susan (Alana Opie, as forward as Sara had been) to prove how much he wants to work for them. Director Mark Woodland makes sure that his actors’ characters not only seduce but also surprise both each other and the audience. Weekly Visit by Marvin Albert has Brian (a dutiful and dear Tyler Yurckonis) dropping in to see his mother (Jenny Aldrich Walker) in her senior-living facility, where he’ll receive his weekly big dose of guilt for not keeping her with him, his wife and daughter. Director Bob Trisolini prescribes all the right moves and sour expressions to make Jenny’s Mother Lambert the biggest pill imaginable — and one that lodges in everyone’s funny bones. When Brian leaves, she scores a rip-off, in more ways than one! The Company You Keep by Nichole Cunningham alternates action between, on one side, two mothers (Eve Caballero and Heather Forte) who begin as friends but end up as contenders to be a PTA president and, on the other side, their daughters (Cassandra Marie Caballero and Vanessa Russo). The last imitate their moms, but to be Homecoming Queen. Well, at least their admitting being competitors ends their low-down gossip about others at a high school, where Bob Trisolini obviously could have been a referee instead of the play’s slick director. He also works with Bob Nosal as clear-voiced offstage announcers heard by the old and newer stuck-up gals. Cabin Pressure is applied by author William H. Sikorski to a man seated on an airplane between two women talking obsessively on their cell phones as well as into his ears, as hilariously arranged by director Mark Woodland. Daniel Greene feels a lot of pain as well as sort of unwanted pleasure from Samantha Centerbar’s sexy-talking, demonstrative Window Woman while coming down from Jenny Aldrich Walker’s blatant personal conversation as Aisle Woman. Without speaking a word, Greene’s Man is a wonder to watch wondering and writhing while being besieged.
