What do a fortune teller, a genie and a minor league baseball game have in common?

More than you think. Their first similarity: Each provides the crux of a story presented by Cayuga Community College's Harlequin Productions in “Hooks, Lines and Sinkers: An Evening of Three One-Act Comedies.”

The comedies were written by Jay Huling, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based playwright who specializes in unconventional humor.

“He looks at things with just a slightly twisted view that gives a whole different look than you'd expect,” said Bob Frame, coordinator of Theatre Operations at CCC.

The first play, “The Wily Ray Riley,” focuses on a fortune teller whose gifts of foresight are genuine. But he attempts to hide his ability by acting as a well-trained expert in the workings of the human mind. The classic tale of discovering the defrauder is then turned on its head as another character seeks to reveal that the psychic is the real deal.

“Bonjour Raconteur” begins with the story of a man who is granted three wishes by a genie. The man catches the genie off-guard by making mundane requests instead of asking for anything related to money, sex or fame. But his decision to waste his wishes winds up fulfilling desires he never knew he had.

The final play, “Runs, Drips and Errors,” occurs at home plate in a minor league baseball stadium as a player strives to hit his 100th home run. While he steps to the plate in search of the perfect pitch, he must contend with a sight-starved umpire and a catcher with smelly feet.

“The plays range from the screwball laugh-out-loud in ‘Runs, Drips and Errors' to a more extreme, sardonic type of humor in ‘Wily Ray Riley,'” Huling said.

Aside from being written by Huling, Frame feels the playwright has woven a thematic thread of striving for goals through each of these one-act plays. Frame selected these particular works, which have never been performed together, for this reason.

Due to the diversity of settings in “Hooks, Lines and Sinkers,” the plays will be performed in minimalist sets with few props. But the absence of any distractions will give the student players a chance to maximize the liveliness of Huling's material.

Huling's work has been performed at Cayuga Community College before. Last year Harlequin Productions performed “Elvis of Nazareth,” a down-to-earth encounter between two of the world's most revered figures.

“The actors got to impersonate Elvis, Jesus and King Solomon and make these people accessible and real, and they did it delicately,” Frame said.

With “Hooks, Lines and Sinkers,” the cast of college students from Harlequin Productions will continue to present the insightful humor of Huling's theatrical work.

“I like to give the audience something they can laugh at and think about,” Huling said.

If you go

What: “Hooks, Lines and Sinkers: An Evening of Three One-Act Comedies”

When: 8 tonight; Friday, Saturday; Thursday, March 29; Friday, March 30; and Saturday, March 31

Where: Cayuga Community College auditorium, Franklin Street, Auburn

Cost: $5, $1 for CCC students

For details: Call 255-1743

Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net