An Avant-Garde Bargain

The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University is currently exhibiting its annual repertory season of plays at the 3-Legged Dog (3LD) Art & Technology Center in Lower Manhattan. This weekend, and during the following four weeks, the two organizations are partnering to offer six shows staged by students graduating with MFA degrees in acting, directing, and playwriting. All of these performances are free to attend.

Tonight (Friday, April 13) and tomorrow (Saturday, April 14), the program will feature “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda,” playwright Daniel Blanda’s look at the dynamics of friendship and regret, along with, “Does This Woman Have A Name?,” Theresa Rebeck’s hilarious satire of literary pretensions set against the backdrop of the phone sex business.

Next week (Wednesday, April 18 through Saturday, April 21), the headliners are, “The Book of Liz,” by David Sedaris & Amy Sedaris, which looks at a young lady with a chronic sweating problem, and her relationship to a religious sect called the Squeamish, which is sustained by her secret recipe for gourmet cheese balls.

The Actors Studio repertory season continues the following week (Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28) with a double bill of “The Mistress of Wholesome,” by Jacob Appel and “The Slave,” by LeRoi Jones. The former is a comedy about a cardiologist’s wife whose world is turned upside down when her husband’s mistress and the social worker vetting her for adopting a child show up on her doorstep on the same day. The latter is a harrowing, apocalyptic drama about race and class in America.

And the program concludes the first week in May (Wednesday, May 2 through Saturday, May 5) with “Boeing-Boeing,” a modern-classic farce written Marc Camoletti, about a Paris bachelor happily engaged to three stewardesses simultaneously, until the advent of faster trans-Atlantic flights upends his carefully choreographed routine.

All of these plays are being staged at 3LD (80 Greenwich Street, between Rector and Edgar Streets), and the four performances begin at 7:30 pm on the days indicated. There is also a Saturday matinee for each production, which starts at 3:00 pm.

All performances are free, but space is limited and anybody wishing to attend is urged to register in advance for complimentary tickets by browsing asdsrepseason.com, and clicking on “Make a Reservation.” (Tickets registered in advance will be held at 3LD’s Will Call window at no charge.) For additional information, please call 3LD at 212-645-0374.