The Belfast Maskers’ annual one act festival this season showcases four Maine playwrights with mostly rewarding results. The production values and acting are excellent but they aren’t all equal when it comes to the quality of the writing.
The strongest piece is “Mr. Danby’s Son” by Dennis Hartin of Tenants Harbor. George Danby meets with the Rev. Amanda Tacker to plan his father’s funeral. The Danby character is not based on the Bangor Daily News’ longtime cartoonist who shares his name.
The grieving son (Tyler Johnstone) and minister (April Rejman) share family secrets and their doubts about God in a searing emotional portrait of grief. Johnstone and Rejman give layered performances that reel the audience into their orbit.
Director Angelina Nichols gently and carefully mines every ounce of pathos from the script that has some fine plot twists and turns. She also keeps these characters in motion so the play does not become too talky and static. This show alone is worth the price of admission.
Cassidy Small of Freedom wrote and directed “Happily Ever After,” a fractured fairy tale that is apropos for Pride Month. The play is fun and funny with Jared Nickerson a standout as the prince seeking to save a princess who does not want anything to do with him.
With a few adjustments, “Happily Ever After” could be a great play for high school students since acceptance of same-sex relationships is one of its themes.
“The Grey Monster,” by Georgeanne Oliver of Poland, tells the story of Nattie (Robbin League), who comes to her family’s Maine camp seeking refuge and some alone time only to find squatters living there. She is won over by them and forms a kind of family that allows Nattie to come to terms with the chaos of her past.
The dialogue works well but director Georgeanne Oliver needs to move the actors around more often to avoid the production looking too static as it did at Sunday’s matinee. Watching people talk but not move may be natural but it is boring to watch on a stage.
Joshua W. Jackson’s “Teams” is the weakest of the four plays. The Brunswick resident can’t seem to decide if it is just a work-place drama or a science fiction warning about the power of artificial intelligence. Much of the play, directed by Zafra Whitcomb, is people sitting in front of laptops and saying what they are typing into a group chat. That will be familiar to theatergoers who have work experience using that kind of software but there’s not really enough conflict in the story to truly engage the audience despite a fine cast.
Jay Rosenberg created a rich soundscape for each of these shows that is dominated by Maine artists. Music by David Mallett, David Dodson, Louisa Stancioff and Sara Trunzo are featured. The program includes a playlist and the music can be heard at belfastmaskers.com/mpoaf25.
The homegrown music helps anchor the plays in Maine. It also helps set the mood for each show and most likely introduces theatergoers to Maine music they aren’t familiar with.
While these plays aren’t all of equal quality, the Maskers deserve a standing ovation for featuring Maine playwrights in these very diverse productions that mostly succeed.
The Belfast Maskers’ production of “The Maine Playwrights One Act Festival” will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Basil Burwell Community Theater, 17 Court St., Belfast. For more information, visit belfastmaskers.com.