Marga Gomez at Elgin Fringe Festival

The moment Marga Gomez walks on stage, you recognize the natural talent for subtle comedic movement, character voices, great timing and a practiced, self-conscious command of space on a stage consisting of only a chair and a mic stand.

She is tweaking a "work in progress" at the syllabic level; but look beyond the professional dazzle to see a brilliantly paced, complex story that draws on gay Catholic Cuban-American identity (why isn't Gay capitalized?) to explore complex relationships that flash backward and forward across genders, latitudes, and generations.

Titled "The Spanking Machine," the bit uses a childhood friend as a humorous adult foil, but there's a point, accompanied by the sound of "so many locks in those New York apartments." This show is just like a perfect grownup spanking: all joy, with just a little bit of sting.

See it Friday at 6pm and Saturday at 7:30pm at the Theater at Side Street Studio Arts.