Short Slices of Life

A lineup of short plays demands the balance and momentum of a musician's set list. Segues have to be smooth, breaks need to feel natural, the peak shouldn't come too soon, and, of course, every piece on the list has to be good: no duds. In series A of its 30th annual marathon of one-act plays, the first of three programs in the festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre gets all of that just right. An upright piano plays as the lights go up on Willie Reale and Patrick Barnes's three-song musical, "A...