It is often difficult to start writing a theater review when you’re not quite sure what to make of the piece and what it all means. 

The challenge becomes more complex when you’re writing about two plays being presented by the FSU/Asolo Conservatory on a rotating repertory schedule – Noah Diaz’s intriguing, surrealist and puzzling “You Will Get Sick” and Evan Placey’s clearer if bloated “Pronoun.”

For the last few years, the second-year conservatory students have performed two contemporary plays that are presented in alternating performances, contrasting or balancing their education with the more classical works that will come later in the season – an adaptation of “Julius Caesar” and Moliere’s “Tartuffe.”

I may not be quite sure exactly what is behind “You Will Get Sick,” but I know I enjoyed watching Armando Gonzalez Naranjo playing a young man who doesn’t know how to process the news that he has developed a fatal illness or how to share it with his family or co-workers. So he hires a struggling actor (Emelie O’Hara) to listen to his story, and then keeps paying her to help him with various chores as his condition worsens.

The man, identified only as Actor 1, worries that his brain is becoming foggy, and most of his inner thoughts are expressed by the off-stage voice of Aria Rayes, who details his pains and struggles. It probably doesn’t matter what the disease is, but it’s turning him into the Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz,” evident by the straw that appears on his body or comes out of his mouth when he coughs.

He’s living in a world where hucksters are selling insurance against bird attacks – we hear the birds screeching in Alex Pinchin’s sound design – so maybe he’s needed as a scarecrow now. And it’s no coincidence that his actress/helper steals his illness story to create a monologue for auditions to play Dorothy in a stage version of the musical.

A play about grief and bodily decline may sound like a downer, but the production staged by faculty member Jason Paul Tate, is often a delight to watch, even though in a couple of scenes it becomes too broad. Naranjo is a charming lead, trying to maintain his character’s sense of calm and ordinariness even as his body is betraying him. He makes you feel his pain each time he is wracked by spasms on his legs or arms.

O’Hara maintains a strong sense of emotional distance as the pseudo-caregiver character Kellen – she needs the money he pays for each little task – but you can feel a growing closeness between them. (The legendary actress Linda Lavin played the role in the play’s New York premiere four years ago.)

A comical highlight comes when Kellen takes her “client” to an acting class for an evening of theater games that are funny but less than revealing. The class is lead by the vibrant conservatory graduate Trezure B. Coles, who also plays the man’s obnoxious sister and still manages to make you like her. Pavel Holovchenko portrays several vastly different roles, from an energetic insurance salesman to a crying waiter. The Ukrainian actor displays a lot of variety in his tone and physical performances, but his accent, which he varies as much as possible, makes it a challenge to understand him at times.

‘Pronoun’

There is no question about what Placey is addressing in “Pronoun,” a play about a trans male high school student dealing with the impact of his transition on his friends, family and his own emotional state.

The play, written more than a decade ago, humanizes a hot-button subject that dominated many political campaigns across the country in our recent midterm elections. Trans people have been demonized. Placey puts a trans person at center stage and makes us care about what people like Dean must deal with – the way they question how they fit into their bodies, the emotional and financial cost of surgeries and how their choice changes their relationships with loved ones.

Some school leaders promote tolerance, but Dean, in an impassioned speech, says he wants more than to be tolerated. He believes trans people need acceptance, understanding and support.

The production gets some heart in the staging by guest artist Max Raymond, though he leans toward a slapstick or overly silly style at times. The actors take on British accents to suit the play’s settings, but few manage to make them sound natural or believable.

The choice of this play appears perfectly suited for a conservatory class that includes at least two trans actors. Eren Pagan-Overmyer plays Dean with a bit of swagger and toughness to mask his insecurities. And Charlie Lavaroni is sweetly charming as Dean’s on-again, off-again, supposedly straight boyfriend who is trying to figure out his confused feelings for someone who is now a man.

Some of the subplots don’t lead us anywhere; I’m not sure why the teenagers played by Ricardo Cioni Garcia and Lia Rodriguez are getting married so young, and what it says about the rest of the story, though I enjoyed Rodriguez’s energy in her dual roles as the fiancée and particularly as Dean’s younger sister, who misses the relationship they once had.

Guest actor (and 2024 graduate) Jackson Purdy plays Dean’s hero, the late actor James Dean, who appears in key moments to provide some advice or comfort. He also joins Bianca Utset in some awkwardly comical scenes as school leaders, while she also plays Dean’s concerned father, among other roles..

Placey’s script throws in a few too many elements and could probably benefit from trimming, but it has important things to say.

“Pronoun” by Evan Placey. Directed by Max Raymond. Reviewed Nov. 7, Runs through Nov. 22. “You Will Get Sick” by Noah Diaz, directed by Jason Paul Tate. Reviewed Nov. 6, runs through Nov. 21. FSU/Asolo Conservatory, Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $40. asolorep.org; 941-351-8000