Shel Silverstein might be best known for the children's books that he wrote and illustrated, but his years as a Playboy magazine writer, photographer and cartoonist remind us that he also knew how to entertain mature audiences as well. This not-for-prime-time side of his work informs "An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein" -- a loosely structured show currently being produced by the Bluestockings theater group.
Directed by Buffie Rogers, the nine entertaining vignettes occasionally deal with what could be disturbing subject matter if not for Silverstein's playfulness and the performers' exuberance. Several of the scenes mix a comic take on gender politics with a touch of X-ratedness. In one episode, for example, an idealized woman is turned into a commodity to be auctioned off to the highest bidding male. The uncomfortable parallel to an early 19th-century slave auction is not lost, but a twisted carnivalesque comedy pervades the scene.
One of the most spirited playlets is "Bus Stop." Here a young male (Richard Irwin Miller) and an older female (Sharon Sassone) verbally duel -- amusingly threatening each other with lists of synonyms for particular parts of each other's anatomy.
Other scenes offer us riffs on language that suggest the absurdity not only of what we say but how we think. The activities of a bizarre Laundromat and the anxiety over whether one "skronks" or doesn't "skronk" provide opportunities for actors to present perplexed characters hysterically struggling with the relationship of words and reality.
The different scenes are bridged by means of a number of Silverstein's songs, such as "A Boy Named Sue," made famous by Johnny Cash. This ballad and various other ditties are skillfully performed in a laid-back coffeehouse manner by Daniel Shaw.
In addition to framing the entire show with music, director Rogers strives for a visual unity. Although the production is set against the bare pink walls of the Integrity Productions' set for "The Odd Couple," the imaginatively conceived black and white costumes designed by Miranda King give the dark humor of Shel Silverstein's playlets a strangely charming cartoonish coherence.
Continues 10:30 p.m. Thurday-Saturday through June 24; Theater! Theatre!, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.; $12, 503-307-2410.