Rough cut

New plays are catnip to Koalaty Presentations — or should that be eucalyptus leaves? The company was established in 1994 to develop and produce original work by Georgia playwrights. Its current show, One Acts 2000, features a pair of short plays from Koalaty’s Plays in Process workshop. Any efforts to cultivate local talent are to be supported, and the home-grown double feature of One Acts 2000 features some writers and performers of promise. Still, the evening’s strongest impression is one of roughness, of talents developing but not fully formed.

The top half of the bill, Mark Zohn’s “Taking Stands,” takes its name from two characters occupying the stands during a boy’s basketball game. Loutish salesman Jim (John Tillapaugh) and uptight accountant Tom (Brian Turner) have sort of a Felix Unger/Oscar Madison dynamic, with Jim getting rowdy while Tom shows a weak grasp of basketball jargon: “Here are the umpires!” he notes when the referees arrive.

Mismatched though they seem, they have something in common besides sons in the game: Each is divorced, with their visitation agreements forbidding them to approach their children any closer than the distant bleachers. As the game goes on, their conversation takes a darker turn, with Jim talking about his alcoholism and Tom his shutdown emotions, until the play becomes something of a two-man intervention. Turner’s delivery has a lilt reminiscent of David Hyde Pierce of “Frasier,” and he seems awfully unemotional about how unemotional he is.

Directed by Teresa Carvalho, “Taking Stands” gives the leads many one-liners and comebacks, as when Tom bemoans his failures as a father and Jim replies, “It’s not like you were robbin’ gas stations or practicing law.” After awhile though, the banter sounds forced on the part of the playwright, with his intriguing premise calling for an approach in which more is said in silence.

As the title suggests, Dan Walsh’s “The First Scene of What’s Sure to Be a Really Kick-Ass Play” provides an ironic look at the process of playwriting. At his typewriter, would-be-bard Gil (Craig Glassco) tries to develop a scene between John and Jen (Kannon Keene and Ambre Lake), a couple in a restaurant. It’s the kind of conceit so overused that young playwrights should be forcibly kept away from it, but Walsh gives it a few cute twists.

With Gil unable to get the conversation beyond banalities like, “I like weather!” he gets an unexpected visit from Thatcher (Spencer Stephens), a tweedy stuffed shirt who’s written a book about playwriting. The imaginary professor instructs Gil on his three rules: Know your characters; Show, don’t tell; and Establish conflict. When Thatcher suggests the John character is based on Gil, only better, the writer and his creation become amusingly hostile.

The action grows increasingly absurd whenever someone yells “Props!” which summons an excitable, white-clad trio to redecorate or bring costumes. Going through Jen’s character traits, the prop guys demonstrate her sense of humor by dressing her in a propeller beanie, her sexiness by giving her red shoes and a torpedo bra with tassels on the tips, and so on, until Lake looks increasingly demented. Director Andrea Hutcheson clearly enjoys the zaniness of the props guys, and Jeff Zwartjes portrays one as a bumbler along the lines of a Fourth Stooge.

Spencer’s amusingly plummy Thatcher comes across more as a shrink than a teacher, peeling away the issues that motivate Gil to write. Walsh’s insights into the writing process prove unexpectedly thoughtful, given the play’s sight gags and ethnic stereotypes worthy of Mad Magazine.

Koalaty Presentations has no permanent playhouse, with One Acts 2000 held at the Company Acting Studio in Midtown, which proves a rather small space for an evening with so many piercing whistles, used repeatedly in each show. But the no-frills set suits the rawness of the work displayed by One Acts 2000 and emphasizes Koalaty’s role as midwife to new plays, which don’t arrive without labor pains.

One Acts 2000 plays through Sept. 24 at the Company Acting Studio, 500 D-1 Amsterdam Ave., with performances at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and 2:30 p.m. Sun. $10. Call 770-457-8833.