Thornton Wilder is chiefly known for his full-length plays -- most notably, Our Town -- but he also wrote scores of one-acts and playlets, several of which are beautifully realized. Unfortunately, the five brief works being presented by the Keen Company at Theatre Row under the collective title Such Things Only Happen in Books are not among his best, as they suffer from shallow writing. Worse still, they're performed here awkwardly by a cast that often seems bewildered by the material.

Two of the dramatist's early playlets, "The Servant's Name Was Malchus" and "The Angel That Troubled the Waters" -- both inspired by stories from The New Testament -- form bookends for the evening. "The Ange[...]