Sheet Fort’s Show and Tell is giddy and gutsy

Photo by Ellen Gregory Photography (www.ellengregoryphotography.art.officelive.com)

Rating: 3.5 Le Rants out of 5

Pros: Unpredictable, tears-in-your eyes hilarious and edgy at points. $10 is a fantastic price for a slice of pizza and a great show

Cons: Video segments slow the energy and detract from performers on stage. Pacing.

Cast: Christy Hall, Erika Wilhite, Tobias Wary, Sean Philip Mabrey, Darcy Ames Harris, Thomas Hunter, Mark Landon Smith

Entering the Sheet Fort is an adventure.

It’s easy to forgive some apprehension when entering this makeshift theater space in the middle of the Matt Miller Studio in downtown Fayetteville. The piece is called “Show and Tell” and if concerns bubble up about the possibility that you’ll be called out to share something, don’t worry.

It’s purely optional. Though a mid-show dance party intermission does require a little out-of-your seat boogie.

Show and Tell: A Sheet Fort Experience by the Artist’s Laboratory Theatre opened Friday night to a full house.

The show continues tonight at 8 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 p.m.)

Ten dollars at the door pays for entrance and a slice of pizza from Little Bread Company. A donation of a few dollars more at the bar gets you a Pabst Blue Ribbon or something called ‘Ghetto-gria.’

It’s money well spent on an evening of experimental theater. Tickets are available here.

Show and Tell finds its groove with actor’s reading the intimate, anonymous, hilarious, explosive, pained sentiments from those on Craigslist.com and Found Magazine.

The first hour of the show has the talented cast performing in a “reader’s theater” style from these anonymous and entertaining little scripts. The selection of material was incredible and each actor works the material with the utmost skill.

The Sheet Fort shook with laughter at moments or with sighs of “Awwhhh” as we all felt empathy for the unnamed people who penned their pleas and had them shared Friday night.

A note to parents: This Show and Tell is for adults only. A thought-provoking PSA asking people to please respect and protect the ‘bad word’ power of the “C-word” by using it only sparingly illustrates that isn’t for the kiddies.

“Le Rant” is the climax of the first hour with almost all of the actors reading excerpts that are woven together in an ever-rising hilarious and intense audio pastiche.

Subject matter ranges from women’s shallow desire for a hipster boyfriend, a misguided chicken coop liberation effort, a businessman ready to sell all his possessions and travel the world, to an assault on the market forces that led to the 2008 economic meltdown and an all-pervasive plea to please stop talking about your wedding.

It’s brilliant and could have easily marked the end of the show.

Photo by Ellen Gregory Photography (www.ellengregoryphotography.art.officelive.com)

However, it didn’t, and the audio excerpt from the very enjoyable NPR show Radiolab that follows afterward starts a slow descent for the next 30 minutes that never quite reaches the brilliance of the first hour.

There are a few high moments in the last thirty minutes. A song constructed from John Mayer’s Tweets is especially entertaining.

The Radiolab excerpt (used with permission) deals with how children begin to think and runs at least two minutes. After the frenetic and amazing chaos and hilarity of Le Rant, it drains the audience of that energy to sit in the dark and listen without knowing where to look.

There are several video vignettes that were produced for the show, four black and white segments featuring local actors reading materials. They work for the most part and do well interspersed between the live tellings onstage.

Here’s one of them which was released as a promotion for the show.

However, there are at least two clips not produced by the Artist Laboratory Theatre that are disjointed from the rest of Show and Tell and shoehorned in for some reason.

In fact, one of the pieces is used to end the show. It’s a black-and-white clip from a foreign language film dealing with death. It’s all close shots and tense looks and French (I think), and ends with the words “Fin” which also signals the end of the Show and Tell.

After such amazing highs and deep laughs, and even poignant moments, it was disappointing to see the show end with a televised and non-English sign off.

These few negatives come into sharp focus only because of the brilliance of the rest of Show and Tell.

This show is a steady 4 out of 5 for the first hour and editing the non-original, disjointed videos could preserve that rare and wonderful experimental energy throughout.

It succeeds much more than it fails because of the artistic risks it takes.

[Disclosure: Ozarks Unbound donated ad space on the website to Show and Tell: A Sheet Fort Experience.]

Christopher Spencer

Christopher Spencer, 36, is the publisher and owner of Ozarks Unbound and the food news site, The Fayetteville Food File. He is the chair of the Fayetteville Creative Economy Action Group and the social media chair of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He's also the founder of WordCamp Fayetteville. You can always contact him at cspencer@ozarksunbound.com

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