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‘8 1/2 x 11’ @ Dad’s Garage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. “8 1/2 x 11: The Birds and the Bees.” Through Feb. 18
I always take notes at shows. It helps me internalize what I’m watching. And apparently it works, because I rarely have to flip through those pages of chicken scratch to jog my memory.
But by Jove, one production sends me scrambling for that little brown pad every time. Dad’s Garage’s short play festival, “8 1/2 x 11,” is the culprit —- and only because those thespian anarchists have the nerve to do nine one-acts in a single night.
While previous installments have skewered rock ‘n’ roll and censorship, this year’s theme is “The Birds and the Bees,” courtesy of artistic director Kate Warner, who commissioned the batch of world premieres.
If the subject sounds like a loaded excuse for Dad’s usual stable of playwrights to stage an orgy of equal-opportunity sexual deviance using the devices of sketch comedy, it is —- mostly.
Some of the writers have love, and war, on their brains, as evidenced by Christian Danley’s video “Robot Love,” a “Satellite of Love” homage about cute little bunny-people who are blasted off to space and war, and Lauren Gunderson’s “Heart.Beat.” —- in which a jogger is peppered by soul shrapnel.
The most solid and reflective piece is Lisa Kron’s “43/13,” in which a middle-aged lesbian talks to her younger self —- before she’s discovered her sexuality.
But never fear. There’s plenty of naughty fun here to keep Dad’s comedy klatch in a dither.
This means Brian Griffin’s “Go Ask Phallus,” a “Saturday Night Live”-style doozy that riffs on quiz shows and perversions of sexual psychologists. (Instead of “The Man With the New Brain,” imagine an accident victim with a pair of “donor fingers” gone out of control.) And Ross Maxwell’s “The Illusionist,” hosted by a gay magician who has lots of tricks (yuk, yuk).
Also on display are evidence that love will tear us apart (see Steve Yockey’s disturbing “Snuff Film”) —- just as surely as it will keep us together (see Kyle Jarrow’s valentine to Captain and Tennille).
But what exactly does love have to do with mosquito bites and mothers in Darth Vader masks (Alice Tuan’s “Scratchy Makes Itchy”)? Even my notebook can’t help on that one.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. Also 5 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday. Through Feb. 18. $9-$23. Dad’s Garage, 280 Elizabeth St., Atlanta. 404-523-3141; www.dadsgarage.com
The verdict: Love —- with and without sugar.
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