Review: TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND AND AMERICA for the IRELAND 100 Festival

A lot can be said in fewer than 600 words. In fact, you can portray great emotion, anxiety, happiness, idealism in less than four minutes, and sometimes that is for the better.

That is what Fishamble: The New Play Company, led by Jim Culleton, asked for when he called on their fellow Irish citizens to submit "tiny plays" back in 2011. Through these short pieces, they were hoping to capture in image of where Ireland was and where it was going. They wanted their TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND to be a glimpse of the country from many perspectives.

The Kennedy Center would soon invite the theater company to be a part of their Ireland 100 festival-the festival in which TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND AND AMERICA was a part-and they extended this concept to create TINY PLAYS FOR AMERICA. The Kennedy Center called for short submissions that referred back to President Kennedy in some way.

The performance that was ultimately put on at the Festival on May 24 and 25, consisted of two "acts." The first half was 20 of the Irish tiny plays originally selected. Act two consisted of six plays for America.

I really love the concept of this show. TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND, which was performed by Steven Blount, Sorcha Fox, Emmet Kirwan, Ronan Leahy and Mary Murray, certainly provided a snapshot into life in Ireland. Some of the pieces were really touching and even in sadness, they were full of light. In "Commiserations" Fox called several numbers to spread word that a close friend had recently passed away. In just four minutes, I watched this beautiful and tragic deterioration of strength to vulnerability. Each phone call was harder and harder to make. In the next scene "Ode to Life," Blount is beautifully playing the piano. In a moment, he can't anymore. Although, I cannot really say what happened, the shift was heartbreaking. These pieces, regardless of length, all had a beginning, middle and end.

Despite these moments, I did find it hard to get my mind fully in the piece. It definitely took the actors a few scenes to get into it mentally. Also, I don't believe anyone was entirely off book. Which with 20 short scenes like that, I don't blame them at all, but it did take me out of the scene a bit. It is just odd because in some ways it seemed very prepared. Blocking and characteristics were well defined and sound and light cues perfectly executed. However, I feel like there wasn't enough preparation where the actors felt comfortable being present in the moment.

Preparation seemed far less with TINY PLAYS FOR AMERICA. The cast consisted of Joey Ibanez, Christopher Lane, Kellie McCants and Carlos Saldaña. Considering word limits and the requirements of the topic, the writing was quite good. The pieces really portrayed optimistic American ideals that defined President Kennedy. The tablework in itself could have been fascinating. So it was disappointing to not be convinced that these actors had even met before. It just all felt very lackluster. Add this to the fact actors were reading their own stage directions, I really felt like I was watching a first rehearsal.

Again, this was a really great idea. TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND AND AMERICA certainly gets at what the IRELAND 100 Festival is all about. With this big of a festival, although there is a lot going on, to charge anyone for a performance, especially at the Kennedy Center, the show should be at a certain level. This certainly had the potential, with a few more days of rehearsal.

Runtime was about 2 hours with a 15 minute intermission. The IRELAND 100 festival runs through June 5. For more information visit, http://www.kennedy-center.org/festivals/ireland/

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