For the company’s first production, Danner chose Dash,  a play made up of three one-act plays, more monologues, really.  All three feature fairly normal people who just happen to have killed someone.

The first is a man who lost his infant child, who suffocated under a blanket.  Chris White plays the man with a subdued, everyday approach that works.  It’s not a dynamic performance.  White chooses to play it simply, without grand inflection or characterization.  While it’s not dynamic, it’s very natural, as if you’re really listening to a man tell you his story, face-to-face, rather than listening to an actor protraying a character through monologue.  That’s a good thing.  Without giving anything away, I will say White’s story also has a couple of twists to it, with an ending that literally made me gasp.

Second up are Abby VanGerpen and Ben Simkins as a college age, church going couple telling the story of a special church event in Manhattan.  During a stroll through Central Park, Simkins character ends up overly moved by two men kissing in the park.  And by moved, I don’t mean in a positive direction.  Simkins is believable, with just a hint of a held back uncertainty about his actions.  While I think he may have missed the homo-eroticism of an encounter with his girlfriend’s ex on a running track, Simkins successfully brings an understanding of his characters conviction, yet uncertainty about himself.

VanGerpen is absolutely sweet.  She uses these little nuances in her delivery, like inflection and dropping the end of a line in ways that are spot on, truly admirable.  A couple of times, I think she used her acting skills to add emotional meaning to a line that probably wasn’t originally written into that line.  It was so impressive, it actually pulled me from the story, wondering at her performance.

Jessica Sheridan brings us the final story, as a girl who, at the age of 13, had an inappropriate relationship with one of her teachers.  She ended up pregnant and in love with the teacher who continued to foster a relationship beyond something sexual and really should’ve known better.  At least, he fosters the relationship until he learns she pregnant.

Sheridan, arguably, offers the strongest, most dynamic performance.  She brings a feigned hard edge to a broken character trying to deny her love for someone.  Her character is uncomfortable, trying to come across as confident.  Her performance speaks highly of Sheridan’s skills as an actress.

A warning, though, you will not be entertained.  Bash is not Peter Pan.  It’s thought-provoking theater with dark contexts and unpleasant themes.  And, there’s not much action on stage.  The monologues are pretty much presented with the actors staying in place on stage.  All of the action is in the delivery, leaving me struggling to focus, with little to do but listen.  That’s not to say the performances are not good enough.  It’s just to say, if you share my short attention span when there’s little visual stimulation, you may have a hard time focusing, too.