BWW Reviews: LOVE BITES Celebrates the Passion, Pitfalls and Everything in Between

This year's "LOVE BITES" is a delicious assortment of short plays that explore love in all its miserable glory with humor and irreverence ... the irresistible passion, the humiliating pitfalls, the euphoria, the anguish, and everything in between. The plays, performed at the Elephant Space in Hollywood, are written by both company members and writers from around the country, performed and directed by members of the Elephant Company. The 11^th annual evening of dysfunctional, not-so-romantic short plays includes 8 selections that will make you remember that when it doesn't kiss, suck, or blow - love bites!

"There's No Place Like Home" by Nikki McCauley, directed by Tony Gatto, takes place in a public restroom with two strangers learning about their shortcomings in adjacent stalls as Jake (Corby Griesenbeck) is attempting to "do his duty" while Stella (Etienne Eckert) just wants her private, lunch hour crack break. These are two flawed people, one desiring change who can't have it and the other not able to accept that she can change her life. Like ships passing in the night, they meet, interact, and then go their own ways.

Next up is "Superhero" by Mark Harvey Levine, directed by Marisa O' Brien, with lonely Rachel (Tara Norris) making excuses to call for her neighbor Leonard (Colin Day), who arrives dressed in full superhero costume to come to her rescue for nothing more than her need for company. He really does turn out to be a hero, and her strutting in his caped crusader costume celebrated the awakening of her inner goddess ready to strike.

In between the scene changes, selections of music fitting well into the scenes allow The Players to switch the setting as well as dance full throttle. It was a great way to keep the audience entertained and the scene changes working as part of the plays themselves. This especially worked well going into the next play, "Circle Dance" by John C. Davenport, directed by Max Williams, in which a woman (Laura Harman) sitting at a table in a club is approached by a man (Ben Belack) unsure of how to approach her. Their circle dance around the table was brilliantly staged to emphasize the biting lines between them.

"Jinxed" by Alex Mavromatis, directed by Lindsay Allbaugh and David Fofi, takes us into the hovel of two end of the world survivors desperate for food. Jessica "Meatloaf" (Amy French) is Brandeis educated while Stringbean (Darryl Armbruster) is a street wise loner. These two would never have tolerated each other had circumstances not thrown them together, and while starving they do seem to keep their sense of gamesmanship intact.

"Splitting Hares" by Brett Hursey, directed by Chris Game, takes us into the office of Dr. Harvey (Eric Bunton) as he consults with Annie (Cheryl Huggins) who cannot help but laugh at her husband Ron (Salvator Xuereb) and his need to wear rabbit ears and eat carrots. There was a very cute ending to this one that took the audience by surprise!

"Humpty Dumpty" by Deanna Barone, directed by Lindsay Allbaugh, features Nikki McCauley and Marco Naggar as a pair of lovers telling the story of a flashlight lit egg and an imaginary worm. It is a most interesting way for them to let us know all about their relationship and what makes it work.

"The Name Game" by Gloria Calderon Kellett, directed by Brendan Farrell, reminds us that when you call out someone's name during lovemaking, it had better be the person in bed with you. Evidently Paul (Nelson DelRosario) has called out the name of Sarah's (Maya Parish) best friend Jenny. She admonishes him with "You don't even like her!" which then led to her fantasizing about Seth Rogan - which kept the audience in stitches.

"Studio Head" by Louis Jacobs, directed by Amelia French, turns the tables and pays homage to a Carrie, a female studio head (Patricia Rae) and her latest boy toy, actor-wanna be, male prostitute Adam (John Charles Meyer) who lounges around her lovely home after spending the previous night worshipping her body. He reminds her how good it was and how he deserves a great part, or at least a car, and why not stay home and jump back into bed with me? With her cutting, "I don't have time and I have a vibrator" retort, she lets him know her plans for him will soon end his need for fame and fortune.

This was a wonderful evening of biting humor and satire on our human foibles, superbly acted by all and staged with loving care. I can't wait to see next year's selections!

Elephant Stages - Elephant Theatre
6322 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
http://elephanttheatre.org/

Fri, Feb 08 - Sat, Mar 02
Thursdays & Fridays at 8pm
Saturdays at 7pm & 10pm
(No 10pm performance on Sat., March 2)

Running time: 120 minutes with an intermission -Tickets $20