Parts of Mando Alvarado's Post No Bills, playing at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, bring to mind the verbal and emotional astringency found in David Mamet plays. There are also moments when the play brings to mind lighter fare, like made-for-television movies about romance that springs from two characters meeting "cute." Much like the quartet of lost souls in the play, these archetypes awkwardly collide in Alvarado's play, and although the combination isn't always completely successful, the piece consistently engages.

Bills centers on Esteban (Teddy Cañez), a once locally famous Tex-Mex singer, who now performs in an almost-forgotten subway corridor underneath Port Authority. Nearb[...]