At Harbor Stage, he runs the show - and performs in it

Brendan Hughes at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, where he's involved in plays, a variety show, and film. (Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

Brendan Hughes is trying to describe his job: impresario.

"It's the best job title I've ever had," he says, "but I have no idea what it means - producer, performer, director, circus barker, ticket seller; I do a little of everything."

At Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Hughes does indeed seem to do everything, at least at the theater's smaller Harbor Stage. In addition to directing all three plays and performing in one at the 90-seat theater, Hughes is coordinating a late-night variety show, performing in his own one-man show, creating a short film for the theater's website, called "This Is Harbor Tap" (a theatrical spin on "This Is Spinal Tap"), and even working the box office and occasionally tearing tickets.

"Jeff Zinn [WHAT's artistic director] wanted to keep the gonzo attitude of the Harbor Stage going while he was focusing on the new Julie Harris Stage," Hughes said. "Jeff picked the plays, then we chose a company of four actors to perform in all three, and then we just went a little crazy with the late-night stuff."

In addition to Hughes's own play, "Oomphalos," the Greek word for navel (Saturdays at 9 through Aug. 30), which he describes as "my attempt to double click on the universe," Hughes has also been playing host to a variety show called "Low Tide" (Sundays at 9 through Aug. 31) which features members of the acting companies at both theaters as well as talent from the Outer Cape.

"I play the David Letterman role, introducing each act," Hughes says. "I go out and find some acts, including comics, filmmakers, and some musicians. Others just come to us. One of the actors in 'The Pillowman' did a three-minute version of the play as a monologue. It was hilarious. I guess the goal is creative chaos."

Zinn says Hughes is the perfect person to manage the chaos.

"I like the title 'impresario,' " Zinn says, because "it encompasses both the artistic and the nuts-and-bolts types of things. I wanted to convey to Brendan that the whole operation was under his control.

"I also like the fact that Brendan's choices, especially with the late-night programming, have helped differentiate our work at the Harbor Stage from our work at the Julie," Zinn says. "Originally, our plan was to rip out the seats at the Harbor, put in tables and make it a cabaret-style theater, with actors having 15 minutes to put together a set and the audience really being a part of the scene. We ran out of time for zoning approval, but Brendan knew the atmosphere we were going for."

Although Hughes had directed only three plays at Wellfleet before taking over as impresario, his entire career has been about jumping from one challenge to the next. A Dorchester native and the son of Patrick Hughes, who started the Walk for Hunger, he dropped out of UMass-Boston to run the Theater Cooperative in Somerville.

Based on his experience as an artistic director there, Yale School of Drama accepted him into its graduate program despite his incomplete undergraduate degree. At Yale, he ran the Cabaret, which, he says, was the perfect training for "Low Tide."

But how do you possibly follow up a summer as an impresario?

"Well, I fly back to Los Angeles after 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago' opens [Aug. 27] and the late-nights end," Hughes says. "I spent a year as a production assistant on Showtime's 'Weeds' and learned what a grip is, so my friends and I are now launching a film project, creating 26 short films about emotion called '26 Reasons (To Get Out of Bed).' Each emotion gets four minutes. We're starting with guilt, and then we'll see what happens after that."

Tickets for "Oomphalos" and "Low Tide" are $10. 508-349-9428, www.what.org.

Williams world premiere

Elliot Norton award-winning actor Larry Coen will appear in the world premiere of "Dog Enchanted by the Divine View," Tennessee Williams's first version of the play that became "The Rose Tatoo." Directed by David Kaplan, the curator and cofounder of the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, the performance will be held Sept. 16 at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre as a benefit for the festival, which takes place in Provincetown at various locations Sept. 25-28. Tickets: $25-$45. 866-811-4111, www.twptown.org.

Notes

The national touring company of "A Chorus Line" is looking for dancers who performed in the Broadway production between 1975 and 1990. The producers hope to bring the veterans together in cities across the country to celebrate the 30th anniversary tour, at the Opera House Sept. 11-Oct. 5. Performers should call 617-880-2458. Tickets: $30-$91. 617-931-2787, www.broadwayacrossamerica.com . . . Actress M. Lynda Robinson is part of a new theater venture in Gloucester, Blackburn Performing Arts, which is having an open house tomorrow and Sunday, 2-6 p.m. at the new space, 1 Washington St., Gloucester. Free. 978-281-0680.