Disarming and absurd: Jenny1538 breezes by in this  summertime late-night series

 

Overachieving Jenny (Mark Rubin), of Brownie Troop 1538, wants her Discovery Badge. She wants it madly. Abidingly. It is the only badge she lacks, she has attempted it unsuccessfully five times, and she will not be whole without it. Whom will she charge with helping her tell the story of her latest Discovery to win the Badge? Why, an obscene, homeless, out-of-work actor (Brent Askari), of course.

And we’re off with the monkey-wrench meta-theatrics of Jenny1538, a short play by local playwright Callie Kimball (author most lately of Alligator Road at Mad Horse). Kimball’s piece premiered at last summer’s PortFringe, and it now has a two-weekend run in Portsmouth at the Players’ Ring, as part of the theater’s Late Night Series (10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 9 p.m. on Sundays). Under Kimball’s own direction, and starring local phenoms Rubin and Askari, who created the roles, the show is a pleasure of witty, lightweight wackiness.