Phil Setren's worst temporary job was manning the phones in a British bailiffs' office. "My job was to call people and tell them if they didn't pay their parking tickets, we'd take their cars," the theater director says.
"He had to sit behind this bulletproof window," adds Lisa Kotin, author of and performer in "Temporary Girl" and "The Office Christmas Party," a double bill of one-woman shows directed by Setren that's currently at the Theatre Project.
Kotin has more difficulty identifying her worst temp job because she's had so many. She estimates that she has temped at more than 100 companies in the past 12 years.
For example, there was the time she worked for "a pair of sleazy junk-bond traders," who expected her to provide a professional-looking front for the business and paid her under the table. Or the temporary job that lasted two years at a cosmetics firm.
"I'm still temping," she says, noting that she'll be at it again when this engagement ends. "And it's still a nightmare."
That nightmare is the basis of her pair of one-act shows, the second of which -- about a Jewish temp hired to fill in during an office Christmas party -- is receiving its world premiere here.
Kotin, 37, and the Baltimore-born Setren began working together at the suggestion of a London producer named Harold Sanditen. He saw "Temporary Girl" in San Francisco two years ago and wanted to re-stage it for larger theaters.
The performer and director had an immediate common language when it came to temporary jobs. "Some of the ways Lisa sizes people up in a few words are so true for people who've been through this," says Setren, referring to Kotin's cast of characters, who range from a lowly temporary secretary to a demanding boss.
Working with a director on such a personal piece could have been tricky, but Kotin had no problem.
"Phil can get right inside of what I'm trying to do and nurture it, but he doesn't tell me what to do," she says. "He has such an excellent sense of how to direct someone in their own work, and he has a wonderful sense of humor."
Play-writing, acting, filmmaking -- even a little ballet -- are among the skills that Kotin, a California native, brings to her multi-media performance pieces. "The Office Christmas Party" is her 11th.
During the Theatre Project run of the double bill, she and Setren are continuing to develop the works, which they may combine under a single title.
For Setren, 33, this is the first time his professional work has been seen in his home town. He last performed on stage here at Cockpit in Court when he was a student at Randallstown High School.
"I was never all that successful a performer in Baltimore. I was finding what my area was. I found it was directing," he says.
After graduating from the University of Maryland, he spent two years as an associate director at Washington's Source Theatre Company before moving to London in 1986. "I was absolutely taken with the amount of theater in London," says Setren, who is artistic director of the London New Play Festival, which he co-founded in 1989.
Setren will spend a few weeks at his parents' Pikesville home before returning to Britain, where "Temporary Girl" and "The Office Christmas Party" have bookings in Scotland and England through March.
He has collaborated with Kotin on another work, "Beyond the Fridge," which premiered in her adopted home town of Chicago earlier this season. "It's the story of Laurel, a super model, and her relations with men, food and love," she explains.
Despite the ocean between them, Setren and Kotin hope to continue working together.
Setren, who specializes in directing new scripts, says he sees too many new works that substitute elusiveness for accessibility and entertainment. "One of the things that's inspiring about Lisa's work is that there's a consistent consciousness about entertainment."
ONE-WOMAN SHOWS
What: 'Temporary Girl' and 'The Office Christmas Party'
Where: Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St.
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $14
$ Call: (410) 752-8558