by Audrey Liebross

This publication has recently begun reviewing one-weekend runs after the fact. However, we don’t generally formally review staged readings, especially when they are readings of new works that are likely to be changed before they are produced as full plays. I am making an exception by reviewing this month’s presentation at Script2Stage2Screen (S2S2S) between the two performances; the two one-act staged readings are so amazing that the remaining performance on Saturday night, April 20th deserves to sell out.

Director Deborah Harmon and playwright Brooklyn Rutledge

 The two one-act plays, Main Character and The Search for Snowflake, feature brilliant directing by Deborah Harmon, and top-notch performances. Main Character features Christine Tringali Nunes, Heather Joy, Joyanne Tracy, Zachary Furtado, Jessica Lenz, and Yo Younger. The Search for Snowflake features Christine Tringali Nunes, Yo Younger, Hal O’Connell, Sean Timothy Brown, Melanie Blue, and Dana Adkins. These actors add perfect comic timing and terrific physical comedy, ensuring that the dramedy with farcical elements (Main Character) and the farce about Snowflake generate numerous laughs. In fact, the laughs in Snowflake are practically non-stop.

The first play, Main Character, written when playwright Brooklyn Rutledge was a high school freshman, won the 2022 Palm Springs Young Playwright festival competition. It is the deeper of the two stories. High school student Cass doesn’t consider herself a “main character” in her own story, but that changes quickly when the brainy girl whom she thinks of as fulfilling that role seems to want Cass to teach her how to be popular. The Search for Snowflake takes newly arrived, shy Catarina on a panicked search in the neighborhood for her black cat, Snowflake, after Catarina accidentally leaves the front door open.

Ms. Rutledge has a talent for showing the audience what makes her quirky characters tick. The director and cast take the playwright’s words and stage directions and fill them in even further. Even though there are screwball characters in each play, I never felt that they were there just to generate laughs — there is pathos underneath the humor. Ms. Rutledge shows exceptionally mature writing skills, and the director and cast let her skills shine through. This show is a must-see.

I do not know how many tickets are available for the Saturday night performance, but I urge people who want a treat to check into seating availability, at the bargain price of $15 per person. S2S2S performs at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, 72425 Via Vail in Rancho Mirage. The remaining performance takes place on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at 7:30 pm. The $15 ticket price may be paid by cash or check at the door, or they may be purchased via PayPal on the website: www.script2stage2screen.com. Reservations can be made at script2stage2screen@gmail.com.