She's in danger of losing her job and it seems likely that she will never pursue her dream of becoming a TV talk show hostess like her idol, Oprah Winfrey. But Cypress senses that things may be changing for her. Avoiding Less Blue is enthusiastically and skillfully performed by Courtney Munch, Kimmarie Lynch, Stacie Ponder, Katie Rubin, and Denise Willbanks. No director is credited, but the goofy, energetic staging is just right for the piece. This is a laboratory, remember, and a lot of the work presented here isn't done yet.
Diversity is the hallmark here, both in terms of content and form.
What they have in common is the unstoppable desire to get our attention and make us listen. Some deliver their messages more effectively than others, but there's never any doubt that the women responsible for these pieces, onstage and off, have something significant to say. Angry Little People is hardly a play in the traditional sense, yet it's the most fully-realized dramatic work in the festival. It's the internal monologue of a desperate woman, examining her stifling existence as she sees it and as it's seen by others. With extraordinary delicacy and subtlety, Cino gets under this woman's skin and lets us experience the tragedy of her life almost from within.