Theater Review -- Tom Titus

New York is a jungle -- or at least an aviary -- in Joseph Pintauro’s

“Metropolitan Operas,” a collection of nine one-act plays presented by

Orange Coast College’s Repertory Theater Company.

Sex, religion and a fascination with birds are the recurring themes of

these short dramas, which range from highly involving to strangely

distant. Pintauro has given some of his characters layers of emotion;

others receive merely a once-over.

Two of the three most affecting one acts are offered at the beginning

of the program. In “Seymour in the Very Heart of Winter,” a fading,

self-absorbed actress (Katie McGuire) who’s now living with a chauffeur

(Angel Correa) presents her lover with an exasperating challenge.

Another, more successful actress (Angela Lopez) rubs it in at the

expense of her less successful friend (Erin Ainsworth) as they share

“Ten Dollar Drinks.”

The first of the bird plays is “Rex,” in which a vegetarian couple

debate whether to consume a pheasant the woman has snuffed out with her

car. Heather Layton and Adam Navarro both impress -- but Navarro’s

costume, a tuxedo jacket and paint-spattered white pants, remains a

motivational mystery.

“Birds in Church” arouse priests Sean Hesketh and John-Carlos

McMaster as they attempt to capture a pair of exotic winged creatures who

may (or may not) be messengers from above. Hesketh returns in clerical

garb to counsel Jeannie Morem as she confesses her affair with a priest

(Hesketh’s character) in “Rules of Love,” the third well-fashioned

playlet.

Homosexuality becomes a force in both “Uncle Chick” and “Fiat.” In

the former, a young gay man (Vincenzo Torres) confronts his equally gay

uncle (Correa) about his chosen lifestyle, while the latter presents a

suicidal HIV-infected hairdresser (Josh Lash) and the Charro-type

Madonna (Lopez) sent to deliver him in a fade-out borrowed from

Michelangelo.

Two of the Pintauro plays could easily have been left on the shelf.

These are the lightweight “Lightning” with Morem and Emily Rued in an

abbreviated mother-daughter trauma and “Parakeet Eulogy,” a one-man skit

combining two of the playwright’s recurring themes with Torres as a

priest offering a deceased bird up to heaven.

Directorial skills are evidenced by J. Paul Mutz (“Seymour” and “Uncle

Chick”), Nicole Shearin (“Ten Dollar Drinks”) and Andrew L. Vonderschmitt

(“Rules of Love”). Jenelle M. Smith shows promise with the intricacies of

“Fiat.”

As with most one-act programs, there are the shiners and the

stinkers. “Metropolitan Operas” offers a few of each, but fortunately,

most succeed in engaging their audiences.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

* What: “Metropolitan Operas”

* Where: Orange Coast College Studio Theater, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa

* When: Closing performances 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

* Cost: $6

* Call: (714) 432-5640