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Superb slices from The Pear

by Alexa Tondreau

Who knew the folks at Mountain View's Pear Avenue Theatre were such serious multi-taskers?

Not only have they established themselves as being top-notch actors, directors and producers, but with Pear Slices 2008, these thespians have proved once and for all they can write, too.

Running through April 27, Pear Slices — now in its fifth year — is a unique treat of a theatrical experience. Perfect for the sort of crowd with attention spans attuned to television's eight- to 12-minute intervals between commercials, Pear Slices presents eight short plays over the course of a two-hour production. Each slice is written by a member of The Pear's writer's guild, and this year's selection includes a diverse group of material.

For instance, Pear Slices begins with a short called "Miss Direction," by V.B. Leghorn, which details the obsessive and stalker-ish relationship between a car's automated navigation system (personified with great comedic timing by Camila Frausto) and the car's driver. Sample line: "You hurt me to the micro-grade."

Sound unusual? Not compared to the next piece, "The Near-Death Experiment," by Richard Medugno, which tells the story of a serial killer on death row who, as part of an experiment hatched by an ambitious doctor, is momentarily killed and brought back to life again in order to study the transformative effects of such an experience.

If there is any unifying theme among the Pear Slices of 2008, it seems that a certain penchant for the bizarre and surreal connects the theatrical material in them all. And a sign of the high quality of writing here is that the playwrights successfully pull off a number of challenging themes which might have appeared silly or trivial in lesser hands.

Caryn Huberman's "Pig Me, Act II" manages to make the relationship between human and pig a nuanced and intimate thing. What appears at first to be a completely outlandish proposal on the playwright's part — that a woman and her talking pig live together, and that the pig has been genetically modified to provide her with replacement organs — turns into a sad yet powerful story about cross-species love and loyalty.

About half way through "Pig Me," you have the unnerving realization that you've become emotionally invested in the strange material. It's a feeling that comes again and again while watching Pear Slices.

Just as important in these productions are the eight actors, who make multiple appearances in a variety of challenging roles. John Romano and Ray Renati, who were so good as dueling brothers in The Pear's recent production of "True West," appear frequently and continue to raise the bar for acting on The Pear's stage. Romano is particularly memorable when playing Salvador Dali in Ross Peter Nelson's "Allegorical Construction with Ectoplasm and Soft Cheese, Act II," uttering such lines as "Dali is a flaming giraffe!" and "My madness is that I believe I'm not mad!" with total dead-pan sincerity.

Pear Slices has become one of Mountain View's best artistic traditions. Nestled just a block from the expansive Microsoft campus and situated on land recently purchased by Google, the theater reminds us that in the land of technology titans, the small, intimate and quirky deserve a place too.

INFORMATION

What: Pear Slices 2008, now showing at The Pear Avenue Theatre

When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday showings at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., through April 27

Where: 1220 Pear Ave., Unit K

Cost: $25 general and $20 for seniors and students; discounted rates on Thursdays and Sundays

Info: Visit www.thepear.org for details.