Hilarious ‘New Century’ a delightful season opener for Triangle Players

Richmond Triangle Players may still be wandering in the desert as they wait for their new theater to be completed, but they're right in home territory with Paul Rudnick's "The New Century." The season opener, directed by John Knapp at HATTheatre in western Henrico County, is a laugh-a-minute bill of four short plays first presented together in New York last year, and it is hilarious.

Rudnick, the playwright who gave us "Jeffrey" and "I Hate Hamlet" (and such films as "In & Out") is a funny writer with a sentimental streak, and "The New Century" bears that out. Each of three primary characters stars in a playlet. There's Helene Nadler, a very tolerant, very Jewish mother who qualifies thrice over for Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, the Transgendered, the Questioning, the Curious, the Creatively Concerned and Others. There's Mr. Charles, who has been asked to leave New York because he is "too gay." And there's Barbara Ellen Diggs, the craft-obsessed lady from Decatur, Ill., who's still mourning a son lost years ago to AIDS. The three bump into one another in the final piece, which takes place in a hospital nursery.

The very funny Annie Zannetti plays Helene with a Long (pronounced with a hard "g") Island accent as thick as scallion cream cheese. She's an over-the-top caricature, but irresistible, and Rudnick throws in just a hint of the heartache she has squashed in order to be the world's most tolerant mother.

Next up is Mr. Charles, ably and swishily embodied by Michael Hawke, with a strong assist from the game Matt Hackman as Mr. Charles' boy toy du jour (or perhaps longer). Mr. Charles is the old stereotype that a new generation of gay men wants to discard, but he's far too fabulous to fade away. Hawke, too, gives us a tiny peek at the hardships Mr. Charles must have endured as a child -- a fleeting but moving contrast.

Then the delightful Jacqueline Jones does her turn as Barbara Ellen, who's pretty extreme in her own way, involving lots of yarn, sequins, glue and competitive cake decorating. Here Rudnick takes a cautious turn to the emotional side; there is a lovely shift of tone from nuttiness to nostalgia that is deftly navigated by Jones under Knapp's sensitive direction.

The fourth vignette, in which the characters (and Colleen Walsh as a slightly demented new mother) all meet, is a little forced, but the references to Sept. 11 and AIDS are poignant, and there is hope for redemption reflected in this promising start to RTP's season.

Susan Haubenstock is a Henrico County-based freelance writer and editor. She can be contacted at .