60-second review: FUTURE FEST (Luna)

“One generation’s Orwellian dystopia is the next generation’s comfort-inducing lifestyle.”
J. Ferron Hiatt, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI TOY AND NOVELTY.

luna theater future fest review
Tina Brock, Gina Martino, and Chris Fluck in J. Ferron Hiatt’s FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI TOY AND NOVELTY. Photo by Aaron J. Oster

The six short plays in Luna Theater’s FUTURE FEST (part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts) present bleak views of tomorrow’s world, following current trends in technology to dystopic ends (civilization collapses because of too many kitten videos in Robin Rodriguez’s KEEP YOUR PAWS OF MY FUTURE; all sex has become virtual in Joy Cutler’s THE BIG CRUNCH). But despite their auguries of doom, the varied one acts by regional playwrights provide a solid evening of inventive theater.

There are recognizable truths in the dysfunctional family of Cutler’s THE BIG CRUNCH—an unrecognizable world brought to farcical realization by a well-constructed script and strong performances. C.J. Celeiro’s creative {SONIC ART} imagines music coming to a land of silence. In Kristen M. Scatton’s THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (perhaps the most entertaining of the pieces, if not the deepest), two survivors of an apocalypse rehash old quarrels:

—Do you remember what I said to you when we broke up?
—That you should have listened to your friends when they asked you if you got me at Hope Depot because I was such a tool?
—No…
—That you had tampons who were more sexually satisfying than me?
—No, that I would never want to be with you even if you were the last man on earth.

Plus ça change. April 18 to 27, 2013. lunatheater.org; pifa.org.

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