You should go see BloomingPlays

Ah, local theater. There really is nothing else like it.

When done well, it can be moving, touching, dramatic or side-splittingly funny.  

It is a unique window into the inner psyche of a town and its people, exploring themes often deemed too risque or taboo to be mentioned in polite company.

Few explore these themes with greater skill and relish than the Bloomington Playwrights Project. They often take risks other theaters won’t.

Anyone who saw the excellent “Chicks with Dicks II: Cannibal Sluts from Space” a few weeks back can back me up on this.

Their current venture is the BloomingPlays Festival, three weekends of all-new theater broken down into sizeable chunks. There’s “BloomingShorts,” six new short plays, and the “BloomingDoubleHeader,” which showcases two one-act comedies.

There’s also the “BloomingFeature,” which shows a new full-length comedic drama, and “BloomingPlays In The Dark,” two shorts that deal with the darker side of humanity.

I managed to catch “BloomingShorts” last weekend and was delighted by the range and diversity of both the performances and the plays themselves.

With most short-play showcases, the plays are hit or miss, but this was certainly more of the former and less of the latter.

In “A Terribly Sophisticated Party” by Eric Beckstrom, a man sits on a sofa, and one by one the party guests gravitate toward him with their various troubles.

“Sexus Revisited” by Derrick Krober shows a pretentious English teacher and his sexy young student as they pick up a famous poet at the airport.

They run into an old flame of the teacher’s working at a newsstand, as they find out that the poet is a drunken old pervert looking for a young piece of tail. Emily Goodson’s hysterical performance left the audience howling in its seats.

BloomingPlays is a spectacular and singular experience. The plays are brand new and might never be seen again after next weekend. The local artists work hard and bring their best to stage.

The whole festival comes to a head on May 30 with the BloomingPlays marathon, which has all four events, one right after the next, from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. I know I’ll be there.

Supporting local theater and other events is one of the cornerstones of the culture that makes Bloomington such an amazing town.

And with quality shows like the ones the Bloomington Playwrights Project puts on, there’s no reason not to go.

You’ll laugh until it hurts and come out smiling. So what are you waiting for? Go get your tickets.