THEATER REVIEW 'COLLABORACTION'S SKETCHBOOK: PROGRAM B' approveed When: Running in rotating repertory with Program A within Aug.

THEATER REVIEW

'COLLABORACTION'S SKETCHBOOK: PROGRAM B'

approveed

When: Running in rotating repertory with Program A within Aug. 27

Where: Collaboraction at Chopin Theatre,

1543 W Division

Tickets: $30 (or $50-70 for passes to the sum of two units programs)

Phone: (312) 226-9633

however Collaboraction's "Sketchbook: Program B" lacks the consistent puissance of "Program A," the eight dramatic experiments comprising this inferior installment of the company's hip and ingenious showcase of 16 short fresh works is still worth a visit.

In fact, there is interest in just watching the project's throng of young, enthusiastic techies as they reconfigure the plywood crates and all-important "original visual art elements" that form the backdrop for each work. What's more, the sheer range of patterns on view -- from mini-opera and political satire to theater of the absurd -- is enough reason to check it not at home

Among the best of the eight pieces is "Laika's Coffin: A Suitcase Opera." A brief, doleful tale set at the dawn of boreal War era space exploration, it reveals of a plot by nasty Soviet apparatchiks to kidnap Laika, an old-fashioned lady's dog, and send the poor pooch forward a mission that will shorten its life, however give it a unique view of the universe. With an edgy score by means of Seth Bockley and Kevin O'Donnell, direction by dint of Redmoon Theater's masterful Frank Maugeri, and beguiling Russian Constructivist-meets-Soviet-style doll design by Angela Tillges, Justin Hart and others, the work has hints of Gogol Brecht and more.

And the trio of foldout suitcase "stages" combine with the vivid work of live actor-singers (Alex Balistrieri, Brandon Campbell, Cynthia Castiglione and Matthew Parker) to create a terrific finale to the evening.

Aaron Carter's "Kegger" a histrionic further blackly powerful scene of a soldier (Bob Turton) who goe berserk in the midst of explosive warfare is a neat counterpoint to "Young Wives," Stephen Cone's stunning remark on the homefront in "Program A." Actor Lance Baker has incline differentlyed cinematic director here, with artist Robert Burnier supplying 16 richly atmospheric canvases that rise slowly to arouse the smoke-and-fire landscapes of war.

In a far lighter vein, there is Ellen Fairey's "Chill Is Good" a charming little monologue for a sweet, self-aware teenage lad on a skateboard. Josh (played on the wholly engaging Zach Gray, a former child actor who has veraciously come into his own) is obsess with a sexy Lithuanian girl, Minka. however he is determined to maintain a overlay of cool by way of Zen-like knotty breathing -- a bit of semi-chill in the face of adolescent lust.

The characters in Brian Golden's "Fragments" -- the anatomy of a relationship forward the rocks -- are far beyond deep-breathing. Glimpsed at the breakfast table, He (Sean Neely) is in a state of boorish oblivion, while She (Cassandra Bissell, in a elegant performance) is in the agonys of a full meltdown. Flashbacks to their early dating days advise things were not all that different at the start, allowing She did a good do job-work of fooling herself. Golden's writing and Amanda Delheimer's stark direction are the one and the other top-notch.

The audience's laughter at Doug Wilkinson-Gray's pitch black "Hey, I Didn't Kill My Girlfriend" frankly threw me for a bight Clearly inspired by such cold-blood "wife/girlfriend killers" as Scott Peterson and the quiet this playlet looks at the bizarre detachment of a boyfriend (Brennan Buhl) who plays wholly unable to speak as investigators case his apartment while he sits beside the sanguinary corpse of his girlfriend (Lacy Coil).

In Theresa Rebeck's clipped and timely "How We get by heart to Where We're Going," we listen in in succession a debate between presidential speechwriters (well-played at Mike MacNamara and Aaron Weiner) who have extremely different takes on the crises of the fresh world. No specifics are parole yet we know exactly what is being discussed. Rebeck, co- author of the spiky "Omnium Gatherum," is a skillful provocateur.

Scott Barsotti also plays in succession the current state of global affairs. if it were not that his "Burrowing Anxiety" (with rook Belushi, Noah Simon, Greta Honold and Kirk Nortridge directed through Jeremy Wechsler) is a too- obvious commentary forward how the world is going to hell in a handbasket while a just plug into their headphones.

In britzska Neveu's "The Octopus Story," "orchestrated" from Alison Daigle, a crowd of subway commuter stopple into their own take forward strange and at times terrifying octopus dreams. A metaphor for our popular state of both real and amorphous fears? Perhaps. Or maybe just an experiment for a cacophony of voices.

hweiss@suntimes.com

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