...To put it quite simply, The WorkShop Theater Company & The Foolish Theatre Company have an unqualified success on their hands with their most recent outing, HA! As the name suggests, this evening of three, one-act plays packs in plenty of laughs and provides a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours tucked inside the intimate Jewel Box Theater...

...Ric Sechrest’s direction is clever and detailed. In each of the scenes, he has set a tone that is buoyant, funny and occasionally quite touching. He understands Orloff’s work and trusts that it will land.

The five-person ensemble of Jarel Davidow, Anne Fizzard, Gerrianne Raphael, Mike Smith Rivera, and Evan Thompson is top notch and over the course of the evening each performer is given the opportunity to shine. Ms. Raphael’s doting mother/lover Jocasta lands big laughs in Oedi. While Mr. Thompson’s Fyodor in St. Petersburg is as poignant as he is funny. The performance’s final piece The Whole Shebang captures excellent work from Fizzard, Davidow and Rivera as creations and Creator, respectively.

All these components contribute to an excellent theatrical experience, but the credit for the success of this piece must be attributed to Orloff’s writing. His work is funny without being crass and accessible without being dull.

While laughs abound, don’t be fooled, Mr. Orloff has real themes at work here. Oedi provides politically astute commentary that calls to mind an era of cynically Clinton-esque public opinion triangulation. Perhaps even more profound, The Whole Shebang poses pointed existential questions about why humans even bother to trudge through a cruel, seemingly pointless subsistence, and answers them with heartwarming tenderness and hope.