Homemade power fuels "Keep the Light On"

If you gotta have a gimmick, the one Annex Theatre employs in "Keep the Light On" is an eco-friendly dandy.

The premise, devised by creator/tech director Max Reichlin: The planet is in post-apocalyptic mode and fuel is scarce, so a ragtag theater troupe powers up enough light wattage to illuminate its bill of three one-acts for us. How? By pedalling big-wheeled bicycles hooked up to generators.

What a novelty, in an age of digital and automatic everything, to see the cheerful, muscle-toned cast members take turns whirring away on stationary bikes.

They also take turns acting, under Ellie McKay's direction, in a slate of dystopian mini-comedies. Two are somewhat diverting trifles. The other is a hilarious, sharp-fanged satire on the downfall of Western civilization, through the meltdown of a crazed blond pop star.

With "Foxy Populi," Seattle playwright Elizabeth Heffron gives her (considerable) satirical all. Yes, she's not the first, or thousandth, to savage a certain media anti-darling (played with brained-fried zest by Megan Ahiers) who hits the celebrity heights and skids, goes on drug-fueled rampages, hacks off her hair, loses custody of her kids ("I let them eat anything natural that's wrapped in plastic!") and would "rather be dead than unseen." Translation: Life isn't worth living without the paparazzi on your tail.

Heffron's swift, smash-mouthed portrait of celeb self-destruction admits the culture colludes with these monstrous pop gargoyles — until they become human train wrecks and beneficiaries of our smug moral superiority.

Even people who wouldn't be caught dead reading People magazine at the supermarket should know enough about Britney Spears to find this whipsaw version of her saga smart, funny and horrifying.

Also on the bill: Scot Augustson's "1001," a skein of surreal scenes spun by a Scheherazade-like delivery boy who tangles with a one-eyed pharmacist, a homicidal client and a lisping Mexican widow. None of it makes much sense (is it meant to?). And the play lingers just long enough to make you want to move on.

The bill's closer, "Electri-

City," by Bret Fetzer and Juliet Waller Pruzan, feels like a scrap of a tale that could develop into something longer. Sweet and twisted, it's a puppet/human chronicle of a curious child and her mother visiting the world's last remaining amusement park.

"Keep the Light On," while amusing, actually does less to develop its dystopian themes than did Annex's more sustained recent performance piece, "I Feel Fine."

But bravo to Annex for continuing its irreverent explorations — and for "going green" in a whole new way.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com