The first half of the fourth annual Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival, Program A, follows the festival's traditional format of grouping short, one-act plays. The plays, overall, have a young feel to them. Sometimes that means fresh, sometimes immature.

'And a Happy New Year'

Aaron Jefferson Tindall's "And a Happy New Year" provides a slow start to Program A. Tindall takes the love lives of three college freshmen as his subject. Nate comes out to friends Chris and Liz. Nate has a crush on Chris. So does Liz.

		Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival Where: Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, 542 Penn Ave., Mezzanine Level, Downtown. When: Through Sun. "Their Town": today and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. One-acts: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 4 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Tickets: $10 with reservation; $15 at door; pass for both programs $15; 412-288-0358. Related story Stage Review: 'Their Town' puts entertaining twist on Wilder's classic

It's not a very interesting scenario, and it's made less interesting by an inexperienced playwright who falls victim to lackluster dialogue, a melodramatic climax and a stilted structure that breaks up the short scenes with awkward direct audience addresses that lack drama.

Director F.J. Hartland stages many of these monologues with the actors standing upstage in a straight line, so the piece is visually flat as well. Christopher Maxwell (Chris), Grant Scavello (Nate) and Jillian Vitko (Liz) develop a nice rapport but, as of the first weekend, still seem unsure of their text.

'The Session'

Wali Jamal's 10-minute "The Session," first performed as part of Bricolage's Urban Scrawl, has a nice, tight structure, is funny and features surprisingly well-developed characters considering its brevity. Jamal pits two married women, both stubborn, both with television-talk-show-sized personalities, against a homophobic marriage counselor.

Director Kim El zips the production along. Courtney Day Nassar and Tamara R. Wilkes are very funny. Marcus Muzopappa brings a drier humor to the doctor, and Jessica Kennedy gets laughs as a silly temptress meant to test the strength of the women's relationship.

'Beyond Dirt Knees'

Ryan M. McKelvey takes on more serious subject matter. "Beyond Dirt Knees" features Patrick Orr and Robert O'Toole and deals with a young man's efforts to come to terms with the older man who introduced him to sex. It's an interesting topic. What do you do with a memory that's such a complex mix of anger, shame and pleasure?

Unfortunately, McKelvey's attempts to unravel the issues are convoluted. He opts for a structure that strives for the poetic: 11 brief scenes with stiff, overformal dialogue bordering on the pretentious.

Director Jeffrey R. Simpson oddly stages several scenes in downstage corners facing upstage. There's some sense that the scenes circle the stage, perhaps emphasizing a cycle of relationships, but that helps little when the audience can't see.

'Call Girl'

Carol Mullen's "Call Girl" is a light, 20-minute play about a woman who hides her job as a phone sex operator from her new girlfriend. A few bad puns are greeted with silence, but, for the most part, it's a sweet piece with likable characters.

Under the direction of Wali Jamal, Courtney Day Nassar and Jessica Kennedy connect nicely. Laura Hoffman is equally convincing as the matchmaker friend.