The more the merrier

After solo shows, Mark Setlock shares the stage

Matthew Wilkas (left), Mark Setlock, and Jenn Harris star in the Berkshire Theatre Festival production of "Pageant Play," which was written by Setlock and Wilkas. (Kevin Sprague)

Mark Setlock can't do it alone.

Although the performer and playwright made a name for himself with the one-man show "Fully Committed" and earned praise for his solo adaptation of the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," he says his collaborations with writers Becky Mode (on the former) and Steve Murray (on the latter) gave him confidence as both a writer and actor.

"Crafting a narrative isn't one of my strengths," says Setlock. "I'm better at editing and offering ideas about where the narrative should go."

But even when Mode and Murray took responsibility for the story line, Setlock's contribution was essential. "Fully Committed," about a reservations agent at a fancy restaurant, grew out of a job Setlock had "that I complained to my friends about all the time." He says "This Wonderful Life" is about his "obsession" with the Frank Capra movie.

For "Pageant Play," which is having its world premiere at the Berkshire Theatre Festival through July 26, Setlock teamed up with friend and fellow actor Matthew Wilkas for what he says is his most balanced partnership.

"Matt was still the one sitting down to do the actual writing," says Setlock, "but I had much more of a say. We really worked together to develop this one over the last two years or so."

"Pageant Play" looks at the lengths to which adults will go to get their children to win beauty pageants. The 90-minute comedy includes six characters played by four actors (including the two playwrights), a big step for Setlock.

"It only seems like I'm always alone on stage," Setlock says with a laugh over the phone from Stockbridge, "but I always thought of this as a two-person play. After I caught a documentary on HBO called 'Living Dolls,' about the competitive children's beauty pageant scene, I contacted Matt because I knew we shared the same sense of humor and we could have fun with the insanity of it."

Although Setlock is best known for his solo work, the American Repertory Theatre Institute graduate was a member of the original workshop and Broadway cast of "Rent" and has worked in a variety of off-Broadway productions.

Wilkas says Setlock's performances have an immediacy that works best on stage. Audiences find Setlock's work appealing, Wilkas says, because they are inherently theatrical, despite their small scale.

"The gimmick of the other two is that he has to play all of the characters," he says, also over the phone from Stockbridge. "What makes this play fun, and theatrical, is that the children don't exist. You can't really do that in a movie."

Watching the documentary and researching child pageants, Wilkas says he was struck by the way the kids in the pageants go through the motions without seeming very interested. "It's the parents, and the coaches that we were itching to play. We decided to have costumes represent the little girls, which helps emphasize the way the adults depersonalize them and treat them like something they can pick up and toss around."

As the story of two moms and two pageant coaches took shape, the pair decided playing all the roles was too confusing. "We asked our friends Daiva Deupree and Jenn Harris to join us," says Wilkas, "and it makes the story much clearer."

With Deupree and Harris playing the two moms, Setlock and Wilkas play both the pageant coaches and the husbands of the two pageant moms.

"The plot does take some ridiculous turns," says Wilkas, "but we felt like the world of these child pageants is so wacky it seems like anything goes."

"Pageant Play." Tickets: $19.50-$44. 413-298-5576, berkshiretheatre.org.