Three Comic Shorts at Woolly Mammoth

The PlayGround Playwrights will present Three, an evening of comic shorts consisting of two ten-minute plays and a one-act play written by Michael Merino. Directed by Kerri Rambow, the plays will be hosted at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Wednesday, March 26, at 7:00 p.m.

The writer purposefully crafted the comic shorts and set them in a world where no one thinks, no one listens, and most importantly, no one dies. The pieces were developed over the last year and a half while playwright’s family members experienced serious illnesses and he himself faced narrowing job opportunities. “Compared to heart disease, cancer, and death, I think being unemployed is a pretty good way to pass the time,” he adds.

The first play, Seat Yourself, centers on a woman and a man who attempt to dine at a restaurant, only to suffer the questioning of the man's existence by an impossible waiter with a silly accent. This work won Theatre Oxford’s 10-Minute Play Contest in 2007. The second play, Pompa y Circunstancia, concerns two brothers who mis-communicate what to wear as a prank at their graduation exercises. This ten-minute play was recently named a semi-finalist in the 2008 Theatre Oxford’s 10-Minute Play contest.

The evening concludes with Porcupine, a one-act play that recounts Sigmund Freud’s visit to America in 1909, where he delivers a series of lectures and searches for his inner porcupine. Along with other turn-of-the-century psychological luminaries, Freud goes to the Adirondacks for a few days of deep thoughts, high silliness, and various mental and physical competitions.

The reading is free and open to the public. Woolly Mammoth Theatre is located at 641 D Street NW in Washington, D.C.