For one weekend only, May 7-9, Heartwood Theater leaps into spring with Seven Shorts, five 10-minute plays and two longer one-acts. While collections of shorts, ten-minute play festivals, and pairings of one-acts have long been around, this is Heartwood’s first such venture, resulting in a delightful weaving of comedy, farce, and drama. 

"Seven Shorts" delivers a wide spectrum of styles in one evening, providing various performers "just the right roles.” This paradigm allows for close rehearsal work, without huge technical demands, but with ample time to develop characters and relationships. Rehearsing each play on its own brings each cast to the final stages of the process, to stage their pieces as part of one fluid performance. 

"Seven Shorts" includes five 10-minute plays: Both comical and sweet, "Hearing Aid," by Pete Barry, features Ellen Whalley and Peter Henderson as an aging couple, desperately seeking connection, due to their hearing loss. Love is the cure for their difficult problem.  "Funeral Parlor,"  an unusual farce originally written by Christopher Durang for Carol Burnett and Robin Williams, brings a rather whacky and inappropriate visitor to the funeral of a stranger. Roosevelt Bishop as the whacky visitor clashes with Teralyn Reiter's depiction of the mourning widow.

Brandon Toropov's "Chance of Your Life" follows the tragic consequences of a lost love, played by real-life couple Sam Bailey and Anne Bailey. "Arabian Knights," by David Ives, brings an absurdist twist to the evening, when a businessman attempts to make a purchase in a bazaar, using an interpreter. Joseph Lugosch plays the businessman, Phaelon O'Donnell the charming shop keeper, and Mary Boothby the interpreter, who seems to have her own plan for the strangers. The final 10-minute play features Mary Boothby, Tate Sandrock, Honora Boothby and Rebecca Tomasello in "Now We're Really Getting Somewhere," a quirky workplace drama by Kristina Halvorson.

The production also includes two longer one-act plays:  "The Boor," by Anton Chekov, is among the most famous one act farces. Smirnov, a wealthy landowner played by Roosevelt Bishop, trying to collect debts from his tenants, comes face to face with Honora Boothby as the fierce widow, Mrs. Popov, who decides she simply won't pay. While they fight it out, Luka, an ancient servant played by Joe Lugosch just tries to survive the day. 

"Uninvited," by University of Farmington theater professor Jayne Decker, is a slow burning drama set in a rural home. On a rainy afternoon, a disheveled man enters an empty house looking for food and rest.  When he is unexpectedly confronted by the new owner, a tense encounter reveals a great deal about both characters. Tim Cunningham and Teralyn Reiter deliver this subtle, intense one act.

One matinee performance and three evening performances are scheduled in the Poe Theater on the Lincoln Academy Campus: performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7, Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. One 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday.

Tickets are $5/students through college and $30/all adults.  Reservations strongly recommended by emailing info@heartwoodtheater.org or phoning Heartwood at 563-1373.

Heartwood’s 23rd season is sponsored by Bath Savings Institution.  Student tickets are kept to a very low $5, through the sponsorship of Moody’s Diner and First National Wealth Management.