All in the Timing - Firebird Theatre Co.

Written by renowned playwright David Ives, All in the Timing is a collection of six short comedic plays featuring clever dialogue and outlandish situations ranging from chimps on typewriters to people connecting with each other through an invented language. The plays also explore serious themes such as the fragility of human connection and the role chance plays in our lives.

Firebird’s Jimmy Utley (Twelfth Night, Humbug) will be the supervising director, while Emily Sharan, Addie Pond, Katie Thomas, Tristan Buss, William Spicer, and Jimmy himself will direct individual plays. Performances take place on Fridays and Saturdays, March 8, 9, 15, and 16 at a variety of locations: Public House, Almont Resort, and Queen of All Saints’ Parish Hall in CB. The six short plays are described below, and ticketing info is after that:

A breakdown of each play:

Sure Thing

A chance meeting between a man and a woman at a cafe replays again and again until they are finally able to connect with each other.

Words, Words, Words

Three laboratory monkeys with typewriters find themselves in a science experiment to see if they can produce one of the world’s greatest literary masterpieces — Hamlet.

The Universal Language

A woman who has trouble expressing herself seeks solace in a fraudster claiming to teach “Unamunda,” the universal language. Though the language is fake, it allows the two people to express their feelings and form a truer connection than English ever could.

The Philadelphia

A man meeting his friend for lunch finds that, though he is in New York, he is metaphysically in a Philadelphia — a life rut that echoes the dysfunction and futility of the actual city of Philadelphia.

Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread

Renowned composer Philip Glass goes to buy a loaf of bread, but the prosaic dialogue of Glass, the baker, and two bystanders transforms into a spoken word piece whose rhythms and patterns emulate Glass’ music.

Variations on the Death of Trotsky

Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky relives his death in multiple different ways, discovering both humor and ultimately profundity in being murdered with a mountain climbing axe.