
Entering the post-industrial bar space of Philadelphia Distilling, we get a drink ticket. It’s for an orange punch, which we like, but we also decide to try some of the specialty libations designed for Juniper Productions’ COCKTAIL PLAYS. Our favorite, a modified old fashioned with barrel-aged gin, goes with our favorite of the production’s four short plays, Bill D’Agostino’s Out of Time.
Like several of the pieces, Out of Time feels written for the space. A tender and telling portrayal of old-age dementia, it sees a man entering a place he believes is a long-past bar. (Buyers Guide: Best Grain Mills reviewed.) Similarly, Alexandra Espinosa’s engaging dystopian drama Delivery is set in a distillery and Mark Costello’s light comedy Date Night takes place in a bar (the whimsical anti-superhero tale Superlosers by Megan Schumacher rounds out the quartet). Slightly buzzed from our gin-and-honey bees knees, we find the site-specific plays by a diverse group of local playwrights make for welcoming, accessible, easy-to-enjoy theater. Actors Marissa Kennedy, Mary Pat Walsh, and Mark Wheeler ably handle the varied roles which the four plays require. Bottoms up.
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