Fusion’s spring lineup opens with ‘Life X 3’

Fusion’s spring season spins from the enigma of perspective, to a Tennessee Williams tragedy and back, ending with its annual short works festival.

The season opens with “Life X 3” by French playwright Yasmina Reza from March 23-April 2.

“This is our third go-round with Yasmina Reza,” said Dennis Gromelski, Fusion co-founder.

Best known for “‘Art’” and “God of Carnage,” this marks the third time the theater has produced a Reza play.

In “Life X 3” the playwright spirals her characters Henry, Sonia, Inez and Hubert into a time/space continuum of repetition, redundancy and revelation. They drink a few bottles of wine along the way in this comedy of chaos.

“It’s a view of the same events through three different lenses,” Gromelski said, “and how things look incredibly different depending on who’s telling the story and their perception of it.”

Tennessee Williams’ seldom-seen “The Two-Character Play” opens on May 4, running through May 14.

“He was working on it for the last 10 years of his life,” Gromelski said. “This is revisiting our relationship with Tennessee Williams. In our early years, we did from five to six Tennessee Williams works.”

In 2011, Fusion was invited by the Williams estate to perform his “Once in a Lifetime” at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

“The Two-Character Play” is “about a brother and sister on a seemingly endless theater tour,” Gromelski said.

“You find them in a run-down theater while the troupe has abandoned them.”

As we emerge from a global pandemic, the insularity and dependency of Williams’ siblings may reflect our current experience.

The piece carries the usual Williams themes of addiction, family drama and unrequited love.

“It does have very funny moments in it,” Gromelski added.

Fusion’s 17th annual The Seven Short Works Fest runs from June 8-11. It features seven fully-produced world premieres, seven different directors and a professional ensemble. A jury of theater professionals reads the scripts blindly, with the productions going to the seven highest scoring scripts.

This year’s theme is “The Elephant in the Room.”