There’s an outdated saying in theater: “While you discover a gem, let it shine.”
Key West’s Pink Barn Theatre discovered such a gem over a decade in the past, and has been letting it shine in most seasons since. It’s referred to as “Brief Consideration Span Theatre,” probably the most in style reveals the theater presents every year.
It’s a easy idea – choose a blended slate of humorous, highly effective, poignant or off-the-wall brief performs and populate them with a number of the space’s high comedic expertise, then string them collectively for a night of enjoyable. Every year, the Pink Barn’s resident household – the McDonalds – discover six or seven new performs and pull them collectively underneath a title that pertains to all of them. This 12 months’s theme: “Different Info,” which most will agree is related to the instances.
“One of many issues I like most about Brief Consideration Span Theatre,” stated Mimi McDonald, the Pink Barn’s managing director, “is that it offers us the chance to discover numerous totally different voices and new playwrights in a single present. And it appears to many people that the human situation is evolving proper now, and these playwrights are noticing that and commenting on what’s taking place in a really comedic means. And we now have such nice comedic actors all doing a wide range of very humorous characters on this one.”
This 12 months’s rendition stars Erin McKenna, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms, Nina Pilar and Zach Franchini. They seem in varied mixtures throughout the night of performs that target characters who’re in battle with bigger forces – a catering job for an engagement celebration with a lacking bride; an opportunity assembly on the Golden Gate Bridge, two viewers members who insist on world premieres, a fiancé put to the check when she meets her attainable in-laws, and two FBI brokers who interrogate a newscaster when a newsroom is hijacked.
“It’s a quick, enjoyable night,” stated McDonald, “however there’s a message or two in there as effectively.”
As they do yearly, the whole McDonald household shepherds this present to the stage, directing, constructing units, dealing with the tech and extra. Together with Mimi are her husband Gary, and their grownup kids, Amber and Jack.
“We’ve been a theater household for greater than 45 years,” Mimi stated. “It’s in our blood, and we now have such a good time working collectively on this present. It’s at all times a giant hit.”
Tickets for “Brief Consideration Span Theatre: Different Info” can be found at KeysTix.com, redbarntheatre.com, or by calling the field workplace at 305-296-9911. All curtain instances are 7:30 p.m.