AMERICAN FABLES - 5 Short, Startling Plays by Eric Fallen

"American Fables" is a compilation of 5 short, one act plays that deliver a powerhouse punch.  Playwright Erick Fallen's plays are construed with unrelenting dramatic suspense and contentious interactions between two characters.  The dialogues are fast, furious, ominous and elegiac.  The first play "Prefect Weather" is a seemingly benign, happenstance interaction between a man & a woman seated on a bench in Central Park. The parallels between Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story" resound like a clarion bell.  The innocuous encounter between 2 strangers turns aggressive & antagonistic with menacing undertones of prejudice and distrust.  The ending is ironic & unexpected.  Themes of distrust, discomfort and deceitfulness are all cleverly imbued in Fallen's plays.  "Paradise" is no picnic for a man being sequestered and interrogated.  The interrogator has an accent & appearance that may be Middle Eastern.  The surprising twists to this play are shocking.  The double-talk from both the one in charge and his detainee is humorous and menacing.  The relentless questioning uncovers alternate facts.  "Friendly Fire" is a fierce display of determination from a mother of a fallen solider demanding the army's release the file on her son's death.  The mother's obdurance & convictions surmount the stall tactics of a military officer.  Having fought to obtain the file she's overcome with confusion & pain by what is revealed.  "The Fixer" is the most ominous and poetic of the 5 plays.  Sean, an attorney is beside himself with worry.  Files were just raided from his office along with everything, including the office lights.  The fixer, someone known to Sean comes into the officer wearing rubber gloves and somehow soothes Sean's fear of reprisal.  He quotes from Romeo & Juliet to Sean (and quotes from Trump) "Facts don't matter.  The past diminishes their impact and significance."  Hark, for never was a one act play of more woe!  The final play amongst these brilliant, concise, well-written and superbly acted short plays was "Basic Plumbing."  As in the previous acts, there's a fueled stand-off between 2 people.  A vexing woman demands a book from the librarian.  He tells her the library is closed and she'll have to return tomorrow.  Their combustible dialogue provokes & excites as in all these plays.  The ending is also surprising, but it's a kinder, gentler outcome.  Eric Fallen's "American Fables" playing at HERE  portend a politically savvy & talented playwright.  Fallen's ear for dialogue and flair for ferocious drama place him in the pantheon of playwrights along with Edward Albee.