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Twelve Valentine's vignettes at Monmouth Players

Fifty percent success can be pretty darn good. If Derek Jeter batted .500 they'd give him the Empire State Building. If President Bush's approval rating was at 50 percent he'd be thrilled.

So considering the high entertainment value of six of the twelve short plays that comprise Love Is in the Air, and considering further that the other six are A) only ten minutes long and B) not terrible, the Monmouth Players have themselves a hit.

The idea, a Valentine-themed evening of playlets, is an excellent one. Producers Lori and Paul Renick and the Players Board scoured collections of one-acts and sketches and came up with twelve, each by a different playwright and each dealing with one or another aspect of love. Three directors guide the dozen plays, which are acted by a baker's dozen actors who play one to four roles each. And one of the directors appears in four of the plays and wrote one. There. That does it for the head count.

A couple of the plays are poignant little tales, but the most successful combine comedy with romance. The Sum of All Parts, by Mrinalini Kamath, is one of the best. After their fourth date, Margaret (Rachel Scalzo) invites Jonathan (Fortunato Seveninni) up to her apartment, but he's not interested in what she has in mind. The reason becomes clear when Lester (Bill Golda) appears, and the play becomes a very funny ten-minute farce. The three actors play it just right, with Golda's uninhibited ‘guest' leading the way. (Golda is also fine as a boorish husband in Love Sonnet, a trifle featuring a bittersweet performance by Amy Garland. Both plays are directed by Lori Renick.)

The best known playwright represented is David Ives, whose many published one-acts are wildly imaginative. Arabian Nights is one such. Souvenir buyer Norman (Emilio Cutaneo) and shopkeeper Flora (Mary Russell) speak different languages; an interpreter (Stephanie Silk) serves as their go-between. For our ears, all the dialogue is in English. The interpreter plays fast and loose with the translation, and directed neatly by Dean Anderson, the actors keep up the pace and the joke works.

Three more plays, all directed by Ms. Renick, hit their marks. In Joe's Not Home, June rejects neighbor Mark's overtures only because her husband Joe's sexual insatiability leaves her too exhausted. Played factually by Siobhan Krier and Tim Kelsey, it's actually believable. And in Always, two couples, one declaring their love and the other breaking up, exchange alternate comments that bookend the relationships. Featuring Kelsey, Krier, Scalzo and Alex Faerman, this one rings all too true.

In Sunny Side Up, Ms. Krier plays straight woman to John Sheehan's compulsive-obsessive-paranoid playwright who's waiting for his agent to call with news about his new play. I'm not sure whether Sheehan's outlandish performance is accidental or on purpose, but he (and Krier) should take this play on the road. It's priceless.

Of the remaining six plays, the monologue Stuck puts Mr. Faerman front and center in his skivvies, and The Ladies Man is notable for having been written by Ms. Scalzo. Her slice-of-life romantic piece is not unrealistic, but it wants for real tension or conflict. It's played too low-key by the playwright and Mr. Seveninni, but Scalzo does demonstrate a flair for natural dialogue.

The acting ensemble is rounded out by Paul Renick and Sharon Saks.

Monmouth Players' Love Is in the Air is a unique theater outing: If you don't like what you're seeing, just wait ten minutes.