Zoo Story & Finding The Sun

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee turns 80 this year, and one of his four productions currently running in New York is The Zoo Story, a one-act written in 1958, paired with a new one-act, Homelife, under the heading Peter and Jerry. Here in Seattle, Stone Soup Theatre has created its own double-bill, All About Albee, and combined Zoowith the far more obscure Finding the Sun. Though not a bad play, its emotional pull doesn’t hold a candle to Albee’s better work: Eight characters meet on a beach and discuss love, sexuality, death, and skin care. Sunhas some great one-liners, but the ending is both predictable and unsatisfying, and though the actors do a fine job, the audience gets fidgety and starts to wish it were 15 minutes shorter. By contrast, Zooremains one of the most powerful one-acts I’ve seen. Expertly portrayed by J.D. Lloyd and Alex Samuels, upper-class executive Peter and articulate vagabond Jerry enact a battle of have vs. have-not on a seemingly innocent park bench. Settling the matter is far more shocking than one might predict. BRENT ARONOWITZ 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends March 9.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Feb. 14. Continues through March 9, 2008