Page 3 of 3

My favorite pieces of the evening were the two that were most linear and dramatic in their development, usefully juxtaposed one after another between the two intermissions. Mark Godden's Charlotte's Web was the more humorous of the two, beginning with our hero ravished by two corporate types in suits who fill his take-out bag with Big Macs and fries. Then a shaman-type of sprite (Jason Jacobs) snatches the prize, leaving our hero to rummage among the other bags lined up onstage. All empty. For some strange reason, our hero stuffs all the bags down his shirt before the great web -- and Charlotte (Traci Gilchrest) -- loom behind him.

Rugged Benjamin Kubie and Mia Cunningham were paired in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Threshold, an eerie idyll of birth, possession, passion, imprisonment, and death set to the music of Arvo Part. It's the darkest work I've ever seen from Cunningham -- very compelling.

More of the same is on tap (on toe?) for this week as Series B of Innovative runs this Wednesday through Saturday at the Booth. *