The 2008 Baltimore Playwrights Festival continues at various venues around Baltimore with two new full-length plays and a program of four one-acts. Each is the work of a Maryland playwright, getting its world premiere at the theater indicated.

Fells Point crafts a 'Graven Image'

A family tragedy that happened years ago carved lasting psychological wounds in Stephen Kilduff's "Graven Image," a thoughtful drama being staged by Uncommon Voices at the Fells Point Corner Theatre.

There is plenty of time for the main character, Turner, to mull over that tragic event, because this retired lawyer and recent widower has nothing but time on his hands. As Turner, Tom Buck has the slightly hoarse, melancholic voice that seems appropriate for a sad man who just mopes around his house. Although the actor occasionally telegraphs his emotions in an overly self-conscious way, he settles as convincingly into the role as into a sofa.

An indication that Turner hasn't completely given up on life is the appearance of Greta, a 21-year-old college art student hired by Turner to paint the inside of his house. The bright colors she favors for each room are an indication of the lively spirit she may bring into his life. Turner and Greta are strangers, but they seem primed to become friends. As Greta, K.C. O'Connor gives the sort of feisty performance that helps bring the play alive.

That incipient friendship is likely to meet with the audience's approval, but it sure doesn't go over well with Turner's conservatively dressed daughter, Deirdre, whose already-strained relationship with him is stressed even more when she pays a surprise visit and is startled to meet Greta. Cara Shaffer has the suitable uptight appearance as Deirdre, but the actress occasionally seems a little shaky with line readings that call for moral watchdog confidence.

Deirdre expresses such disdain for Greta that it initially may seem like the playwright is overstating things, but subsequent revelations largely justify the ferocious arguments that start before the paint has dried.

This worthwhile play benefits from director Miriam Bazensky's fluid pacing through eight short scenes mostly set in Turner's house. If anything, the relatively brief play flows so quickly that one wonders if there's a need for its two-act structure. It probably would work better as a brisk one-act play.

There are other aspects of the script that mar its emotional impact. The playwright sometimes has Turner deliver mini-monologues during scene changes, but these are so inconsistently worked into the play's structure that they seem slightly confusing.

Also, the script's scattered references to Turner's recently deceased wife are so terse that for all intents and purposes she is ignored. This seems odd in a play in which the volatile father-daughter relationship surely involved the mother as well.

If many new plays suffer from being too long and thematically redundant, Kilduff's family drama might benefit from a bit more material about mom and other family matters.

For a play that's metaphorically full of references to carving sculptures and making drawings as a means of artistically immortalizing life's experiences, "Graven Image" can be frustratingly sketchy at times.

The Uncommon Voices production of "Graven Image" runs through Aug. 10 at Fells Point Corner Theatre, at 251 S. Ann Street in Fells Point. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15, $13 for seniors and students, and pay as you can on Thursday. Call 410-318-8895.

'Faith' is keeping Chesapeake busy

A dumpy motel room in Arkansas seems like a prime location for criminal activity. Mark Scharf's "Keeping Faith" immediately grabs your attention by making you wonder why a middle-aged couple kidnaps a young woman and keeps her captive in that motel.

This Baltimore Playwrights Festival entry at Chesapeake Arts Center in Brooklyn Park holds your attention even after the reason for the kidnapping becomes clear. If anything, learning the young woman's identity merely sets the stage for the complications ahead.

The situation isn't funny, of course, but then again maybe it is. Scharf's comedy has near-slapstick proceedings that resemble what you'd expect in a Coen Brothers movie comedy about a botched crime, but the playwright also emphasizes the more serious underpinnings for all the silliness. Although the writing and acting in "Keeping Faith" don't always sustain that delicate emotional balance, it's generally a successful balancing act.

One source of comedy here is that the bad guys aren't so bad. They're actually presented as deeply religious people. Ed is a balding middle-aged guy who looks like he belongs behind a desk; his wife, Jane, is so nervous and sweet that you wish you could have a nice talk with her and get her to calm down.

They're understandably agitated, though, because they enter the motel room carrying a young woman, Faith, who has rope around her hands and feet, a gag in her mouth, and a hood over her head. For much of the first act, Ed and Jane have an animated marital spat about the mess they've gotten themselves into. Faith, of course, is unable to talk and thus remains a mysterious bundle in a chair.

If their predicament has a near-surreal feel, it's partly because these seemingly decent people who've somehow gotten themselves into real trouble. Of course, the surreal feeling also owes something to the motel room's decor, which includes the hilariously improbable hanging of a print of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" over the bed. Yes, there will be a lot of screaming in this room.

As Jane, Marianne Angelella provides much of the comic spark in the production directed by C.J. Crowe. Jane is so prim and proper and hygiene-conscious that she uses tissues to wipe down nearly every surface in that motel room. She seems bewildered by the whole situation, but passively obeys her more assertive husband's orders. Jane is an angelic woman about to implode from the stress, and those character traits are expertly brought out by Angelella.

Less satisfying is Patrick McPartlin's performance as Ed, the husband who carries the kidnap plot and, indeed, carries the young woman into the motel room. He shares Jane's ethical fervor, but Ed is an angrier person whose mildly vulgar language rattles Jane. McPartlin is physically appropriate for this role, but he has too many shaky line readings that seem like indecision on the part of the actor rather than the character.

When she's eventually untied and allowed to speak, Erin Tarpley as Faith makes up for lost time by spewing invective at her captors. The bottled fury in this performance ensures that things remain active rather than static in that motel room.

There's also another character in the play, but that character's late appearance is why audiences stick around for the second act. Even when every character has appeared and every motive supposedly is revealed, "Keeping Faith" admirably keeps you slightly unbalanced in terms of why people do the things they do.

This playwright, who is more known for drama than comedy, will have you anxiously laughing as Jane, Ed, Faith and that other person try to resolve a messy situation. Although some of Scharf's individual jokes fall flat, the overall comic mood is deftly maintained. Your faith in his writing will be rewarded.

"Keeping Faith" runs through Aug. 2 at Chesapeake Arts Center, at 194 Hammonds Lane in Brooklyn Park. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 Friday and Saturday, $5 Thursday. Call 410-636-6597 or go to www.chesapeakearts.org.

Vagabond has no 'Short'-age of plays

The four short plays being presented by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival at Vagabond Players deal with very different subjects, but they have in common a reliance on family secrets and last-minute plot twists. Although this makes them a tad formulaic, there are enough fully realized characters and situations to hold your interest.

Easily the best of the bunch is Joe Dennison's "Pier," whose perhaps overly schematic setup finds two demographically distinct men meeting on a fishing pier. Hap (MAWK) is a casually dressed, retired man who comes here to relax as much as to fish. He's essentially a street corner philosopher whose corner is this pier. In fact, he shares so much folk wisdom that one worries Hap will turn out to be Morgan Freeman.

By contrast, the more tightly wound Stan (Troy Hopper) is a younger man who seems defined by his business suit. He's taking a break from the office, but has trouble letting go and relaxing.

Their banter has an agreeable flow, as Dennison skillfully brings out biographical facts amidst all the small talk. If the conversational exchange sometimes seems lax, well, it's justifiable in terms of two strangers hanging out on the pier. The play's easygoing realism is somewhat harmed by its concluding twist, but not enough to spoil that quality time on a pier.

Julie Lewis' "Foundation Mettle" concerns the testy relationship between a father, Phil (Marc Stevens), and his young adult son, Archer (Sammie Real III). The athletically inclined son is trying to get his sedentary dad to do some exercise. Their cheerful conversation quickly takes a nervous turn as unresolved family issues are picked up as often as the weights. Although a late plot twist involves something that could happen in real life, it seems like an all too convenient way to bring a short play to a decisive end.

Pat Montley's "Suckled by Wolves" involves two lifelong Roman Catholic friends, Rick (Troy Hopper) and Steve (Sammie Real III), who are still suffering from the psychological aftermath of clerical abuse in their youth. It's a dramatically loaded topic, but the script is an uneven mix of natural-sounding dialogue and ponderous statements.

Jim Cary's "Trio" has a couple of jazz musicians, Jesse (MAWK) and Red (Marc Stevens), discussing who to hire as the third member of their group. Although their jokes and jabs persuasively convey how such musicians talk, the playwright lets the talk go on too long. The other three plays in a program collectively titled "From This Life: Four Short Plays" are 15 to 20 minutes in length, but "Trio" lasts an epic 35 minutes.

One nice aspect of watching these mini-plays directed by Susan McCarty and Alec Lawson is that you discover in, er, short order what works and what doesn't. Even when a play doesn't entirely succeed, hope springs eternal as the lights come up on the next one.

"From This Life: Four Short Plays" runs through Aug. 3 at Vagabond Players, at 806 S. Broadway, in Baltimore. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 410-563-9135.

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