Theater Listings

GO IT’S JUST SEX Writer-director Jeff Gould’s clever comedy relies on the familiar device of a dangerous party game to send its plot spinning, but that familiarity turns provocative and surprisingly enlightening. When Joan (Carolyn Hennesy) finds her husband, Phil (Eric Lutes), in flagrante with a hooker (Tiffany Ellen Solano) in their living room, she’s doubly furious because she’s expecting guests for a party. Gould steers his terrific cast with an unerring eye, and designer Gary Guidinger provides the handsome set. ZEPHYR THEATRE, 7456 Melrose Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Sept. 23. (323) 960-7721. (NW)

THE LARK This production of Jean Anouilh’s play about Joan of Arc, translated by Lillian Hellman and directed by Robert Craig, is well done. Amanda Karr is an eloquent, spunky Joan, and the clerical forces lined up to destroy her are forcibly presented. The play shows a barbarous assault by a horde of self-righteous Catholics on a naive girl, who, if a man, would surely have been hailed as a hero. Brian Reindel’s set, Vicki Conrad’s costumes and Mike Mahaffey’s fight choreography are all first-rate. The play sounded fresh in 1953, but in a new century of shorter attention spans, it drowns in verbosity. KNIGHTSBRIDGE THEATRE, 1944 Riverside Dr., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; indef. (323) 667-0955. (NW)

THE MAGIC STRING Egomaniacal would-be writer Cody (Eric Patton) is more inclined to harangues than normal conversation. His self-obsession and logorrhea drive away his roommate (Ron Moon) in Scene 1. His therapist (Cynthia Haagens) tells him his blockage is due to selfishness, and urges him to live for others. He obediently complies by adopting Arnold (Isaac Wade), an obsessive-compulsive carpet-sweeper salesman addicted to marathon apologies. After too many jumpy scenes about Cody’s literary constipation, playwright/director Nicole Hoelle engineers an arbitrary happy ending. THE TRE SPACE, 1523 N. La Brea Ave., Hlywd.; Thurs., 8 p.m., thru Sept. 27. (323) 243-5051. (NW)

MODELOGUES Writer-director Sarah Happel’s evening of sketches and monologues inspired by her stint as a fashion model skewers the love-hate relationship between the “beautiful” and the short and plain, who slander their rivals as “skinny bitches” and then copy their cucumber diets. Happel’s funny and enthusiastic ensemble vogue and preen their way through behind-the-scenes revelations: models are dumb, stage moms are pushy, designers are insufferable queens, and agents and casting agents are villainous. DORIE THEATER AT THE COMPLEX, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru Oct. 14. (323) 960-4424. (AN)

GO LA OFRENDA (THE OFFERING) Mix a TV afterschool-special plotline with magic realism and you get writer-director José Casas’ melodramatic yet tender tale of family reconciliation. When Marta Torres (Miriam Moses) loses her only daughter in the 9/11 attacks, she takes her grandson, Alex (V. Rodriguez), into her East L.A. home. Grief-stricken, homesick and angry, Alex spurns Marta’s attempts at consolation as the Mexican Day of the Dead approaches. Despite thinly drawn characters and stilted staging, Casas’ deft blend of humor and pathos saves the day. CASA 0101, 2009 E. First St., Boyle Heights; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Sept. 30. Note: no perf Sept. 22. (323) 263-7684. (MH)

ONE FLEW WEST Taking its title from the same children’s folk rhyme as its source material (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Josephine Schekert’s world-premiere “thrance” (a cross between theater and dance) adapts the story from a mental asylum, but with a cross-gender twist. Under Jessica Schroeder’s direction the performance doesn’t pick up until near the end of Act 1, and the few emotionally charged scenes can be attributed to the source material. The Outlaw Style Thrance Co. at STUDIO STAGE, 520 N. Western Ave., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Sept. 30. (323) 860-6503. (MK)

OUT OF YOUR MIND! Theatergoers sip wine at a tasteful private home until a pushy assistant director (Patrick Censoplano) announces the first of Steven Kane’s two short plays, In the Night of the Bed. The man (Andrew Macbeth) claims to be an extra, only this isn’t a movie, but Molly’s (Kelly Anne Ford) dream, and the rest of the cast are the regrets and pains she revisits every night. Less pat and engaging is Rhinovirus, a chipper sci-fi saga set in a future New New York where pain, suffering and disease have been criminalized. Under Jane Lanier’s direction, the staging is intimate, but the acting is as broad as the Grand Canyon. GuerriLA Theatre at a PRIVATE RESIDENCE, 2806 Nichols Canyon Place, L.A.; schedule varies, call for info; thru Dec. 8. (818) 972-2467. (AN)

PAINTED ALICE William Donnelly’s study of art versus commerce. ELEPHANT THEATER, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru Oct. 7. (323) 960-1057.

PIRATES AND NINJAS: An Extravagant Adventure A gymnastic theatricality weaves three one-acts into a clown show with live music — all spun from comic book/video game depictions of . . . you guessed it (if not, go back to the title). Writer-director Maria DeLuca’s “Pirates & Ninjians” and Eva Anderson’s metaliterary romp, “The Orb of the Seven Dragons” (directed by DeLuca), are whimsical etudes in search of a purpose. But in writer-director Lissa Sherman’s “Pirates and Ninjas,” the parallel lives of a Pirate (Daniel Gallai) and a “faceless” Ninja (Aly Mawji), living across the hall in rented rooms, play themselves out in mostly nonverbal clowning with vivacious hilarity. The Blue House Theater Co. & Big Mama Farm Productions at THEATRE OF NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; thru Sept. 22. (866) 219-4944. (SLM)