Don’t miss these encores

It started out with one stage, then two and now there are three.

Las Vegas Little Theatre opened its third playing space last week with what was meant to be a two-performance showing of three David Ives short plays. But the reception was apparently so enthusiastic they've added two encores at 8 p.m. today and Saturday. My recommendation: Go if you can get tickets.

The playhouse redefines the word "simple." Thirty-five seats in two rows. Lighting designed by lamps. Wall paint barely dry. And the front of the room serving as a makeshift playing area.

But things are not yet complete, so who knows what it may become. More importantly, the premiering presentations were rock solid.

"Variations of the Death of Trotsky" gives us eight comic scenes that feature, as you'd expect, different takes on exactly how the Communist revolutionary might have met his end. Actor Shawn Hackler walks around with an ax in his head, which gives some clue of events to come. And Drew Yonemori makes assassin Ramon Mercader a likable, funny simpleton, which may be a first in dramatic literature.

"The Philadelphia" features a young man (Yonemori) who wakes up in a parallel New York, where little makes sense. Newsstands don't sell newspapers. Cabs go in the wrong direction. Drugstores have no aspirin. A friend (T.J. Larsen) diagnoses his situation: He's living through a Philadelphia. This is how life operates in that much-maligned city, and there's nothing to be done.

"Sure Thing" is an often performed sketch that could easily be called "Variations on the First Encounter." A couple (Hackler and Penni Mendez) relive the same (but differently dialogued) introductions to each other, with each segment separated by the ringing of a bell. The actors get a genuine relationship going, and it's fun to watch the couple react to the curveballs they throw one another.

The performances are skillfully broad, and the direction by Mario Mendez is amusingly frantic and logical. I wanted more.

The only major downside is that the show runs only 40 minutes. That's barely worth showering, dressing and driving. Theater isn't television, and when you make people go through the ritual of schlepping to your playhouse, you need to give them some minimum duration of entertainment; something, I suppose, at least around the 75-minute mark.

Board president Walter Niejadlik said the board is thinking about doing similar shows monthly under the banner "Short Attention Spans." Admission is currently set at $5-$7. The theater is located a few doors down from the mainstage at 3890 Schiff Drive. And if you really like the place, it's available for rent.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas NV 89125.