THE WATER PROJECT, Salt Lake Acting Company, through April 30 (363-7522 or 355-2787). Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes (one intermission).
Nine writers, six actors, 12 plays and nine directors add up to one evening (or afternoon) of alternately savvy, sharp, hilarious and thought-provoking entertainment.
The opening night of SLAC's collection of locally written short plays — all dealing with the central theme of water and the West — was dedicated to the memory of Leslie Norris, Brigham Young University emeritus poet who died Thursday in Provo following a stroke. Bits from some of his poems are read as one of the segments.
The cleverest and funniest "playlet" on the program is the opening segment, "The First Water Problem," by Ron Carlson and directed by Robert Nelson.
It features Kim Weiss as God and Paul Kiernan as his geeky assistant, considering the prototype for a flat, pizza-shaped planet (it would make it difficult for warring factions in opposite hemispheres from battling each other). Then the foreman from Planet Earth (Colleen Baum) comes in with a new problem: All that water just isn't working. It has run downhill and all the lakes and rivers are empty. They ponder the possibility of buckets (enhanced with handles) before coming up with clouds, evaporation, rain . . . and umbrellas.
One of the most thought-provoking is the finale, "Pearl," by Mary Fengar Gail and directed by Robin Wilks-Dunn. This has Jeanette Puhich as a marine biologist, who is several months pregnant by way of an aquatic sperm donor, and Kevin Doyle as her frustrated doctor. Eventually the male-female creature and its self-fertilized eggs are released into the ocean.
Two local authors — Julie Jensen and Mike Dorrell — both wrote plays touching on the old "stealing water" scenario. Dorrell did some tinkering with his script to bring one of Jensen's characters (Dutch, played by Kevin Doyle) into his plot as well.
Jensen's "Water Turn," presented just before intermission, has Dutch and his feisty but suicidal LDS bishop, Weldon (Morgan Lund), arguing over the latter taking Dutch's water and Weldon making a strange request.
Later, in Dorrell's "The Irrigation Murder," a film-noirish jazz backdrop finds detective Bill (Paul Kiernan) investigating the drowning of Weldon in the ditch, with Dutch in handcuffs and Kim Weiss as a cop.
Both segments are directed by Anne Stewart Mark, aiding the continuity.
Another clever bit is Jensen's three-part series of short (barely two minutes each) pieces all revolving around John Wayne and Gabby Hayes — both played by different actors in each segment. Gabby's flowing wig is worn by Doyle, Baum and Puhich as we find the famous Western stars about to cross one of the West's mighty rivers . . . debating water rights with an Indian chief (Lund) . . . and Gabby noting that "The water ain't ours, it's for the future."
"Duke" (Wayne) is played by Lund, Weiss and Baum.
Some of the more serious bits in the collection are David Kranes' "Dasani," focusing on a quasi-shiatsu therapist massaging an Idaho ranger; Will Bagley's "Water Works," a three-minute piece touching on water use — and waste — in Utah and Nevada; and Adam Bock's "A Glass of Water," centered around an esoteric college lecture, which includes some audience participation.
Sensitivity rating: Coarse language in a couple of the segments.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com