This fall's Winter Shorts plays are entertaining, but the incomplete plot twists leave one with a kind of confused, disconcerted feeling, as if they had been seduced by a forest creature or had temporarily switched genders.

The first play, "Inner Beauty," was a parade of cliches.  The ditsy girlfriend, the preoccupied boyfriend, the disenchanted rendition of a fairytale genie and the man with the personality of a girl; all lacked originality.

Carol, the girlfriend played by Luisa Sondie, finds a magic lamp with a genie inside who gives her wishes.  Carol wishes to change into a man, Carl, to test her boyfriend, Rob, played by Jason Sanders, to see if he really loves her for her personality and not just her looks. The dialogue was predictable, delivered rigidly at moments and easily at others.  The highlight of the play was when Carol changed into a man, and her masculine side, Brian Smart, somehow maintained the same adoring doe-eyed look that Carol had.  The play should have a simple and clear ending, yet is unclear weather or not Rob passed the "test."  There was a setup for a moral of the story, but none was really delivered.

"Love Talker" contrasts sharply with the sugary lightheartedness of the other play.  It takes place in a country home in the forest where two sisters, Gowdie and Bun, played by Leah Hill and Jenny Schotfeldt, are haunted by mysterious evil spirits in the forest. 

The plot is confusing, but the play was enjoyable nonetheless.  Gowdie and Bun are two orphaned sisters who live together in the country.  Bun, the eldest discovers that Gowdie has been calling the spirits and has been seduced by the "lovetalker" who drove their mother to madness.  Gowdie becomes more obsessed with the lovetalker who seems to drive her to insanity.  Bun becomes more frustrated with her sister and determined to rid her life of the mysterious spirits that haunt the woods and tear her sister away from the lovetalker.  The connection between the family and the spirits that haunt them is never really made clear.  The lovetalker seems to have a fetish with all the women in the family, but the play never clarifies why.

The technical aspects of this play were well done.  The music set a very creepy mood.  The long, flowing, earth-toned robes and red face hoods of the forest spirits accentuated their graceful movements and enhanced the atmosphere. 

Hill and Schotfeldt were convincing in every emotion.  Matthew Krell, the lovetalker, did an excellent job of being terrifying. From first appearance through Gowdie’s bedroom window, to his promises to Bun near the end, Krell's performance was thrillingly disturbing. The "red heads," (Jesse Bartlett, Jey Johnson, Anna Gange-Hawes and Adam Gillette) forest spirits that tormented the girls, spoke in unison and crept and danced mysteriously on and off stage.  This part would have looked fake had it been done by less talented actors.

While exiting the theatre, "Love Talker" leaves one with a lingering suspicion of being watched or followed.  Overall, watching the Winter Shorts was a worthwhile experience for anyone seeking something unique and a little artsy.