PLAYS IN CAFÉS by Alex Karolyi, Sheila Toller and Chris Whidden. Free Times Café (320 College). July 2-3 and 9-10 at 5 pm, July 7-8 at 6 pm. Buy tickets. Rating: NNN
This show is a comic triple-bill that, as a concept by Shadowpath Theatre, has been touring the country since 2006. In the first, best and most realistic of the three, a man tries to get up the courage to speak to a woman he’s obsessed with. In the next, strangers find they share an unusual erotic pastime. The last leaves everyday realism behind for fantasy based on a far too flimsy premise.
The works are slight but the quirky characters are well portrayed. Especially memorable are Miles Meili, touching as the painfully shy guy in the first play, and the entertaining Mandy Roveda (who also directs) as a dimwitted yoga instructor in the third. The actors sit unnoticed right in your midst until they begin their attention-grabbing conversations.