Zebra Crossing Theatre.
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You’ve heard the idea dozens of times: If artists were better adjusted and got laid more often, would their happiness deprive us of artistic beauty? Playwright Lisa Loomer addresses the same question in Accelerando, a sort of hybrid of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, and many a Matt Groening “Love Is Hell” cartoon. Loomer explores the tensions between life and art in our hyperaccelerated society by speeding through the 12-hour relationship of He, a new-age bassoonist and would-be filmmaker who’s shied away from human contact to pursue his art, and She, a dancer who’s turned her back on her career. Much of the material is familiar, but the play is consistently entertaining: Loomer’s dialogue is nearly always snappy and fresh, and her depictions of the parents of her tortured protagonists are original and hilarious.