Use the Force, Charles

It's not surprising that a show called One-Man Star Wars Trilogy exists. You can easily imagine it playing on a weeknight in a 20-seat theater, rented by the performer and stocked with his friends. But Charles Ross is not some run-of-the-mill fanatic with a PVC lightsaber and a catastrophic sense of importance, and OMSWT is not a small affair: Tonight, it opens at the Post Street Theatre, which has 729 seats, and continues along for 11 more days. Ross created the play in 2001, and he's traveled the world with it, getting surprisingly solid reviews, landing press in Spin and Esquire, and appearing on all the right late-night talk shows. Even Sir Ian McKellen, who does not suffer fools, has sat in the audience. But make no mistake: Ross sides with the freaks. He watched the first Star Wars more than 400 times by the age of 10, and sitting through his performance, in which he embodies all the characters and sound effects, is like stumbling upon a virtuosic, Mountain Dew-fueled geek dropping rapid-fire quotes for a discerning crowd in the UNIX club. Ross, however, also tosses satirical commentary into the mix, making the show hilarious even for those who have no clue about the propulsion system of a DC0052 Intergalactic Speeder -- only that Luke is whiny, and Leia wears cinnamon buns.
Feb. 27-March 11, 8 p.m.