The second weekend of Gallery Players' 9th Annual Black Box New Play Festival features five short plays themed "War & Peace."
Fine acting is on display in Michael Bettencourt's Location: Highway. Time: Near Dusk. No, the title is not the setting. The setting is an interrogation room. Two detectives are interviewing a woman arrested for...well, I'm still not sure. One detective, played with riveting intensity by Stacie Greenwell, violently attacks the suspect, played with equal intensity by Erin Kate Howard. The other detective, played with surefooted skill by Steve Viola, takes a more passive approach.
So what did she do? She says she was driving on the highway and saw a truck run over several deer. Disgusted by the brutality, she pulled over and held one of the dead animals in her arms. Flashbacks, directed perfectly by Elfin Vogel, make us doubt her story. Bettencourt tantalizes us with mysteries using stark language and sharply drawn characters. I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story. I am sure that I hope there's not. I like a play that leaves questions only I can answer for myself...on a highway at dusk.
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