You know what’s so great about the theater?  It’s incredibly efficient.  Movies are all about hundreds of extras, explosions and “How much more CGI can we add in post?”

Plays are about an issue, and the # of characters you need to explode that issue.

Take the new Off Broadway play Straight by Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola (Claudio Quest) and directed by Andy Sandberg.  The tag line?

Meet Ben.  Ben is a 26-year-old investment banker.  Ben likes beer, sports and Emily.  And Chris.

And yep, you guessed it, the show has a cast of three, including Degrassi: The Next Generation‘s Jake Epstein, Thomas E. Sullivan, and Jenna Gavigan (who was but a teen in the Gypsy revival I company managed years ago).

Three people.  One conflict.

Now that’s a play.

Some people might say, “Oh, plays keep their casts size down to save money.”  That’s BS.  Great playwrights only use what they need.  Sometimes that’s 10 or 20, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But sometimes, like in this case, it’s 3.  And the ultra efficiency only puts a higher intensity spotlight on the characters in front of us.  There’s nothing else to distract us from the drama at hand.

So, who wants to go see this love triangle for free?

To enter to win two tickets to see Straight Off Broadway, click here.

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