BOA II

The second annual festival of one-act plays by new local writers -- called BOA, which almost stands for Bay Area One-Acts -- is a mixed bag, judging from the second weekend in a revolving, monthlong series. For some reason these festivals inspire playwrights to worry local themes. Knock Yourself Out, by River Jackson, is set on a Muni bus. In spite of some good lines and an edgy performance by Ray Rea as an obnoxious Muni customer, the humor probably won't travel any farther than Oakland. Scott Munson's A Spider on the Radio shows a spider hiding from destructive human beings in a dark corner of a radio station modeled on KPFA. The characters are local stereotypes, and the jokes feel old before they land. Ed Brownson's afterlife drama Soul's Rust, about a woman who's grown cynical and drunk in purgatory, is amusing but a little arch; it isn't sure whether to take itself seriously, and flows better when it doesn't. The best of the lot is Trevor Allen's piece about Disneyland's sorrowful underbelly, The Alice Unit. It seems to be a sequel to his funny solo show, Working for the Mouse, and fleshes out the drug-fueled misadventures of jaded kids who dress up as Alice in Wonderland or the Mad Hatter and walk around the Magic Kingdom all day, trying to make children happy.