Rivendell Productions and Parabasis Theatre have teamed up to stage “Dolores” and “The City,” two one-act plays now at American Blues Theatre.
Probably the most interesting thing about the projects is that they’re pretty much an all-woman affair. The authors are male, but each play focuses on two women, and both are directed by women, actress Karen Vaccaro in the case of “Dolores” and Marchel Shipman for “The City.”
“Dolores,” the curtain raiser, by Edward Allen Baker, is by far the more engaging and successful of the two. It tells a bittersweet story of two New York sisters: Sandra, a down-to-earth, put-upon housewife, and the frazzled, high-strung Dolores, bruised by the latest in a series of abusive relationships.
Baker’s twist is not especially original, but he has a short-story teller’s knack for character and for sculpting poetic punch out of a brief, afternoon glimpse. One feels one has spent some time with two very real, sad people who are not so much total losers as just pathetically everyday.
Part of the charm comes from the two actresses: Shipman plays Sandra and Kim Ataide portrays Dolores.
Theirs is a delightful partnership, using very contrasting chemistries to create an authentic, revealing and dramatically charming world, even though “Dolores” is only a quick 35 minutes.
“The City,” by San Francisco playwright J.P. Allen, is more surreal and elliptical, though the result is a bit muddle-headed and silly rather than provocative. Two forceful women are depicted in an arid, “Waiting for Godot”-like area outside a city, stalled in their journey by the accidental slaughter of a dog.
Their teaming up is a recent, vague business, and it all soon turns ugly, without much justification or motivation and very little in the way of enlightenment. The final turn toward fantasy borders on the infantile.
The fault doesn’t lie with the actresses, though. Tara Mallen and Maureen O’Dowd throw themselves ferociously into their parts, carrying off violence and toughness with casual conviction and realism.
They’re both feisty and entrancing, betrayed only by the weakness of the material they’re asked to deliver.
“Dolores” and “The City” play through Sept. 28 at American Blues Theatre, 1909 W. Byron St. Phone 312-252-8003.
