Theater Listings

SERIAL KILLERS"Five stories. Five cliffhangers. Only three can continue." Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr., L.A. Sat., 11 p.m. (310) 281-8337.

GO SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR GROUNDLINGS The Groundlings' pipeline to SNL has much to do with their predilection for skits with supersized characters butting heads with the normals. This latest rapid-fire barrage serves up unhinged ex-football jocks, sashaying "house whisperers," and hopelessly square dads begging their sons to define the etymology of phrases like "That's so Raven!" Under Karen Maruyama's fast-clipping direction, it's almost all amusing, but the best skits shake off the formula and find sublime idiocy, absurdity, and awkwardness. Groundling Theater, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; thru Jan. 26. (323) 934-9700. (AN)

STANDING ON MY KNEESThe primal, upsetting forces that lead to art also hold the power to decimate mental stability. Such is the paradox in John Olive's intriguing 1982 study of a published minor poetess, Catherine (Meg Wallace), struggling with prescription Thorazine for schizophrenia. The drug may keep the demons at bay, but it similarly bars the inspiration that gives Catherine's poetry its flight. The play begins in Catherine's "artist garret" bedroom as she's recovering from a breakdown. It then takes us through her plateau of comparative normality — including a desk job offered to Catherine by her pushy publisher, Alice (Rachel Hardy) — and a kind of artistic stagnation that leads to her defying her doctor's (Barbara Keegan) orders by cutting back on the drug, and consequently careening toward another breakdown. Through this, she engages in a doomed romance with a smitten, bewildered stockbroker (Brian Barth) — an affair that more or less defines the play's trajectory. Act 1 is a long setup with scant dramatic action that hangs (barely) on exposition about the big "S" disease, symptoms of which are muted by the Thorazine. In Act 2, hell breaks loose, which justifies the wait. Wallace's quality of demure sweetness yields to bouts of rabid hostility and implosions of confidence, matched by Barth's kindly incomprehension of just about everything that means something to Catherine, from her love of dissonant classical music to the flows of dark energy that drive her poetry. As the publisher, Hardy pushes Alice's pushiness like a broom clearing the path of her ambitions — more plausible than textured. Nice turn by Keegan as the shrink who, under Trace Oakley's direction, gingerly negotiates the transformation from every Lifetime movie shrink into an elfin cartoon from some Christopher Durang farce — a figment of Catherine's tortured imagination. Oakley's basic staging contains no bravura performances, yet it's capable enough to hold its own. Collaborative Artists Ensemble at the GARDNER STAGES, 1501 N. Gardner St., W. Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. (added perfs Sun., Feb. 10 & 17, 8 p.m.); thru Feb. 17. (323) 860-6569. (Steven Leigh Morris).

THE TOMORROW SHOW Late-night variety show created by Craig Anton, Ron Lynch and Brendon Small. STEVE ALLEN THEATER, at the Center for Inquiry-West, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.; Sat., midnight. (323) 960-7785.

GO THE VAMPIRES Writer-director Chris Berube's play works best as melodrama detailing several love stories. It has a great twist: The audience ends up rooting for the vampires because the drama is largely told through their embattled point of view. With no elaborate scene changes, director Berube keeps the action moving at a galloping pace, although there were some dropped lines and quick recoveries on the night this critic attended. THE NEXT STAGE, 1523 N. La Brea Ave., Second Floor, L.A.; Sat., 8 p.m.; thru Jan. 26. (323) 850-7827. (SR)

The Valleys

ARE YOU DELICIOUS? New comedy by Dynamite Kablammo about Edgar Allan Poe, pirates and underground dwelling creatures, oh my. ZJU Theater Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Tues., 8:30 p.m.; thru Feb. 19. (818) 202-4120, www.Zombiejoes.com.

A DOLL HOUSE Blame Oprah that Henrik Ibsen's melodrama about a sheltered wife who empowers herself by leaving her paternalistic husband has irrevocably lost its shock value. What remains is a fatalistic, long-winded and aging play that needs a fresh approach. Aramazd Stepanian's production, updated to the 1950s, draws the play into the world of an I Love Lucy episode: Georgan George's Nora is a dizzy schemer with flaming red hair and pearls. This approach would be worth exploring more deeply. Instead, this friendly but tepid revival simply can't shake off the dust. Luna Playhouse, 3706 San Fernando Road, Glendale; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru Jan. 19. (818) 500-7200. (AN)

GO KERR PACKAGEKerr Seth Lordygan's four one-acts offer sharp wit and a handful of excellent performances. "Two Jews and a Ham," directed by Joel Rieck, deals with the perplexities of an Orthodox Jewish couple (Jody Fasanella and Marc Segal) when they're given a huge ham by an oblivious neighbor (Aurora Nibley). Kevin Fabian directs "List," in which Rendell (Kevin Blake) and his wife (Kylie Delre) prepare "to do" lists: Each nominates three famous people they'd happily bed if the opportunity arose. Trouble begins when Rendell actually meets rock star Lana (played as an imperious, self-absorbed sex kitten by Rachel Castillo), who's on his list. Blake reappears as retired hit man Stan in "The Hit," directed by Julie Anne Bermel. Stan is disconcerted when a mild-mannered, "nice" but volatile young man (Jason Britt) appears at his door to persuade him to make one last — and highly unorthodox — hit. The horror-fantasy "Deceaseport," directed by Heather Holloway, is the most ambitious but the least satisfying of the plays. In it, a recent rape/murder victim (Delre), assisted by a crew of lost souls, returns from limbo to wreak bloody vengeance on her attackers. In an able cast, the standouts are Blake and Britt, who also mesh beautifully in "The Hit." ECLECTIC COMPANY THEATRE, 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd., N. Hlywd; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Feb. 10. (818) 508-3003 or www.eclecticcompanytheatre.org. (Neal Weaver).