A hard-eyed look at manipulation and the scramble to get ahead in the Hollywood film industry is the first virtual production from Between The Lines Studio Theatre.
"Four Dogs and a Bone" was filmed for live-streaming at the theaters building, 725 N. 15th St., Allentown.
The darkly comic fable is filled with unpleasant people who try to get what they want by presenting a false image to each other. The humor is in how the "dogs" - a low-budget producer, a sad-sack writer and two cat-fighting actresses - are scrapping over the "bone" of control over an independent film thats shooting somewhere in the seemy underbelly of the Bronx.
Kate Pistone is amusing as the scheming Brenda, the neophyte actress who, at first, seems too innocent and naive to be true, with her incessant chanting and syrupy sweet descriptions of her co-workers. 
But as the play advances it is apparent, there is plenty of conniving going on behind Brendas fakely sweet smile.
She meets with the producer of the film on which she is working, hoping to get him to change the script to increase her characters number of scene, s.
The desperate producer Bradley, played with considerable smarminess by Jason Roth, is not above doing anything to get the film done is intense and generally distasteful. Roth mines his physical comedy skills as the producer who is plagued by rectal ulcers, lurches around the stage as he struggles to sit comfortably.
Rachel Williams is amusingly snarky as fading ingenue Collette, who lies to Brenda so she can meet alone with writer Victor, with whom Brenda is sleeping. Williams makes Collette nakedly aggressive as she tries every angle to get Victor to write her a bigger part.
However, Eric Herschs Victor is so much of a low-energy nebbish as to be practically inconsequential. Depressed as a result of his mothers death, he readily admits he is a "nobody."
So self-deprecating is he, that Collette cant even bribe him with sex.
When Colette and Brenda confront each other in the dressing room, sparks fly as they exchange caustic lines. Then a sudden downpour threatens to sink the film all together, as Victor takes unexpected control of his own script giving the play an embigious ending.
Director Kelly Herbert James uses different angles to give a more film look to the recording and adds well-placed sound effects such as traffic and rain.