The Shoe­string Play­ers are a long-stand­ing com­mu­ni­ty the­atre com­pa­ny that has been going through a renew­al process, and it this pro­duc­tion is any indi­ca­tion, a suc­cess­ful one. They present four short plays: Any­thing for You by Cathy Cele­sia, Duet for Bear and Dog by Sybil Rosen, The Man Who Couldn’t Dance by Jason Katims, and Fer­ris Wheel by Mary Miller. Ill­ness pre­vent­ed two of the actors men­tioned in the pro­gram from per­form­ing on the night I saw the pro­duc­tion, forc­ing Manuel Orte­ga and Trin­i­ty Sig­urd­son to step in script in hand. They both per­formed admirably.

The key to pre­sent­ing four dis­tinct worlds on stage is to min­i­mize the time between plays, and the min­i­mal set design and effi­cient prop schlep­ping made this pro­duc­tion move smooth­ly. Stage man­agers almost nev­er get the cred­it they deserve, but Karen and Richard How­ell real­ly helped this pro­duc­tion to suc­ceed. This is a fun evening that is well worth your time.