It's easier to admire the individual performances than the collaborative results in Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's "Death Defying Acts."

The three darkly comedic pieces of the show - David Mamet's "The Interview," Elaine May's "Hotline" and Woody Allen's "Central Park West" - were combined under the umbrella title in 1995 in New York, and produced together.

Rob Engelson is the only person to have roles in all three - as a nervous lawyer being screened by the devil in "Interview," a by-the-book supervisor in "Hotline" and an unlikely Lothario in "Central Park" - and scores a hat trick. The Ashford University music professor gets laughs from simply drumming his fingers on the table, as he does facing the devil in "Interview," or as the 1970s-esque swinger in "Central Park."

Joshua Sohn, last seen in "The Last Five Years," smarmily plays the devil in "Interview" and a rookie counselor in "Hotline" and, like Engelson, swiftly changes clothes and character in 30 seconds.

Anne Schneck, as Engelson's wife in "Central Park," somehow marries the voices and the mannerisms of "Sex and the City's" Kim Cattrall and the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz" as a therapist who slowly realizes she's being cheated on.

Kate Hennies, a student at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., shines as a scatterbrained, possibly suicidal hooker who calls the hotline.

The individual performances, and several others, shine even if the individual plays at times wear out their welcome. Dale Hawes directs the first two and Patrick Stinson the latter, and each has a retro feel to them - specifically shown with "Central Park's" disco-era clothes, as well as dial telephones in place (and does anyone call their "service" any more, as characters did in two shows?).

Much of the dialogue is not friendly to younger ears. The laughs are plentiful, however, with a bit of humanity shining through even the darkest moments.