Plays on gay marriage resonate and charm

It isn't often that a theater opening coincides with the announcement of a national political coalition. Then again, these are interesting times.

Yesterday Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and 13 other bipartisan leaders released a letter they sent to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and support marriage equality. (The letter makes strong reading -- see hrc.org.)

But for strong theater -- not to mention light and provocative entertainment -- check out "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays." This is a 90-minute anthology of bright, tight, surprisingly varied playlets by a wide swath of accomplished (mostly gay) playwrights.

With scripts on music stands, the evening is presented as a reading -- but a delightfully theatrical one. Six winning actors -- Craig Bierko, Harriet Harris, Richard Thomas, Polly Draper, Beth Leavel and Mark Consuelos -- create more than a dozen finely edged and/or broadly endearing characters. This cast rotates out Dec. 18, when new actors take their place for six to eight weeks.

I'd go again today just to see Harris find an infinite number of scary-sweet smiles in "The Gay Agenda," Paul Rudnick's harrowingly funny portrait of a family-first advocate haunted by a truth-telling "gay voice" in her head. Rudnick and Harris continue their satirical roll with "My Husband," about a mother stressed out -- very, very stressed out -- because her gay son isn't married.

The tyrannies -- or at least the unexpected ramifications -- of marriage equality are explored on many levels. In the most subtle piece, Moisés Kaufman's "London Mosquitoes," Thomas plays a man giving the eulogy for his partner of 46 years. How would the legalization of marriage affect the lifetime relationship they invented together?

The evening begins and ends with wedding vows -- first by Jordan Harrison, then by José Rivera. In Wendy MacLeod's "This Flight Tonight," Draper and Leavel get panicked before a flight to marry in Iowa, and in Mo Gaffney's "Traditional Wedding," they panic about rituals. Doug Wright's "On Facebook" recreates a vicious online thread, and Neil LaBute, naturally, finds a dark twist to end the blissful nuptials in "Strange Fruit."

No play takes more than 10 minutes. All are good company.

WHAT "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays"

WHERE Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane

INFO $25-$79;

212-239-6200; standingonceremony.net

BOTTOM LINE Timely, revealing and a lot of fun