Fertile Ground Diaries: Ethyl's Pies Is Fresh

Welcome to Dry Gulch, Nevada. It's a 200-person town on a good day, according to Inez and Sissy, the town's twin librarians.

Dry Gulch is also the home of Ethyl's Pies, a dusty diner and gas station that's reminiscent of Mushnick's flower shop pre-carnivorous Audrey II. The decor is accurately off-putting, clashing plaid with floral with an American flag and an out-of-place box of Swiss Miss hot chocolate. Ethyl has died, 20 customers in a day is unheard of, and everyone agrees that the pies are shitty. Even so, Birdie and Murph have worked at the restaurant every day for 30 years. But one day, Birdie starts aching for change in her life.

What follows is what seems like an improv game, but is actually a witty two-act script that doesn't rely on cliches or one-liners. The play doesn't use a traditional plot. Instead, it's a snapshot of a place in stasis, told through Spring 4th Production founders Tobin Gollihar and Ian Paul Sieren, who each play four rotating characters.

Besides some absurd moments—Sieren acting out still images in a human slide show, and Gollihar singing a subdued "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret—the dialogue is sincere and not gimmicky. Dry humor rolls seamlessly off the actors' tongues like they're making it up on the spot, even when the subject matter gets more serious. The pair don't over-act to distinguish their characters either, which is impressive since they range from a draft dodger with a bad back to a Californian orphan on his first trip to Nevada. Sieren and Gollihar shift their posture and speed instead of putting on over-caricatured voices. The only character that doesn't translate is Sieren's Ace, a spacey high schooler who sometimes works at Ethyl's and appears for such a brief moment that he can't hurt the play much.

Despite the actors' abilities to change within seconds, the play is largely about feeling stuck. It's up to the audience to imagine whether the characters end up better off, or worse, as it ends. But for an hour and a half, the intimate lives of all eight are fun to look in on.

See it: Ethyl's Pies is at Y Little Arts Theater, 6036 SE Foster Rd. 7:30 pm Friday-Sunday, Jan. 15-17, 23-24, 29-31 & Feb. 5-7. $15.

Willamette Week