Inside Albert's Head and Lost & Found

The first play in this double-header by Canadian scribe David Ackerman is, as its title suggests, a mishmash of thoughts from inside a man's head. While Damian Lanahan-Kalish has an assured, easy-going delivery in his 20-minute monologue about dentists, industrial parks, orange juice, and uncirculated pennies, it still feels more like a crazy man talking to you on the Haight Street bus than a comprehensible story. Lost & Found, on the other hand, is a great piece of theater in the vein of early work by John Patrick Shanley (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea) or Sam Shepard (Fool for Love). Beginning after a night of hot sex on an inflatable mattress, this new play skillfully paints the portrait of two lost souls trying to connect without any lies or secrets. Company member Ian Riley, who delivered a knockout performance in Sleepwalkers' last production Use Both Hands, again proves his undeniable talent as the soft-spoken Colby, trying not to lie while penetrating the hardened heart of Rita (Sarah Savage). Ackerman's script provides a solid framework, but the actors' (especially Riley's) subtle and assured performances give this show its charisma. As a new theater company dedicated to producing new works at a low cost, Sleepwalkers, in its first season, is on a roll.