The proliferation of single-actor plays that has occurred since the early '90s is directly traced to a couple of theater facts of life.

Small casts fit small budgets in challenging economic times.

Actors like to have a portable one-person show in their back pockets to provide employment when the casting directors aren't calling. Hit the road with your own production during dry spells.

Some actors create their own material. Others have plays written for them, or they are cast in a show mounted by a frugal theater company.

As usually happens when choices are driven by necessity, the results widely vary. The quality of one-person stage productions stretches from the the exhilarating to the awful.

I am pleased to report that Renaissance Theaterworks' new one-woman offering, "Neat," falls comfortably onto the positive side of the scale. It is extremely effective at stripping away all extraneous stage elements and reminding us that theater is about simple story telling.

"Neat" is an autobiographical work written in the '90s by actress Charlayne Woodard, whose successful performing career has ranged from being in the original Broadway company of "Ain't Misbehavin'" to recurring roles on the TV series "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She has authored four plays and acted in an off-Broadway production of "Neat" 15 years ago.

The story is centered on the actress' aunt, who was accidentally fed a poisonous liquid as an infant, resulting in permanent brain damage. Nicknamed "Neat," she remained childlike through her life.

Woodard interacted with her, first as a small girl who found her aunt to be an enchanting, slightly more advanced playmate, and later as an embarrassed teenager less sanguine about her developmentally disabled relative. The story begins in segregated Georgia during World War II before moving to Woodard's hometown of Albany, N.Y.

An adult Woodard is the show's narrator looking backward in time, and the actor portraying her is constantly shifting among many characters to play the people who populate the piece. As the young Woodard matures, the story becomes more about her coming of age and less about her aunt. That makes it no less compelling.

"Neat" works so well because Woodard the playwright doesn't try to make it a statement or overplay her hand. It's a bittersweet, comic-tragic account of two lives, told without an agenda. Mid-20th century racism and its effects are the foundation of the story, and the calm telling only intensifies the poignance.

Needless to say, "Neat" requires an exceptional actor to credibly slip into and out of multiple roles in a blink of an eye. Renaissance has that in Marti Gobel, who exceeds her previous strong body of work in Milwaukee by demonstrating how well she can continuously engage an audience through two acts.

There are no tricks here to catch our eye or curry our favor. Just as the writing illustrates the power of simplicity, Gobel's acting engrosses us with its clean and uncluttered honesty.

Director Suzan Fete's staging is equally spare. The production is mounted with a platform, a chair and scenic designer Lisa Schlenker's evocative folk art backdrop. Less is definitely more here.

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