Theater Reviews: He Asked for It, Office Sonata, Hedda Gabler

Also, Safe, The Glass Menagerie, and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Monday, May 5 2008

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SAFE Sometime in the future, the enemies of America will unleash a barrage of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons upon the populace. Who will survive? What will remain? These are some of the questions lurking at the heart of Chuck Rose’s apocalyptic drama; neither is persuasively explored or addressed. Three hundred feet underground, a luxury bunker — one of many — has been constructed to protect people of importance. Not just government types, but a married couple (Jade Sealey; Tony Pasqualini), a journalist (Cameron Meyer), a young man (John Kassir) and Norman Biederman (Ronald Hunter). Then there are two shadowy figures, Monroe and Dewitt (Tom Groenwald; Jordan Lund), employees of a sinister government agency whose sole purpose is to keep these survivors happy, fed and clueless about what is really happening, aided by intrusive news broadcasts. This premise is as clueless as most of the characters. Most of what we witness is secondhand intrigue, lots of shouting, fighting and a dash of the salacious. Trapped in their comfortable confines, the survivors start to rebel, which ultimately dovetails into a preposterous finale. Rose’s dialogue is awkward (and in many instances, unintelligible), the plot, as thin as rice paper, depends entirely on the melodrama, and with the play’s static nature, you might feel some numbness expanding from your limbs across your torso as the production wears on. Kappy Kilburn directs. The Hayworth, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru June 6. (310) 836-7823. A Circus Theatricals production. (Lovell Estell III)

The Glass Menagerie

Amanda Rowan

Biking With Andrew Scott

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TRAPEZOID In writer Nic Cha Kim’s amiable sci-fi comedy, a robotics company recruits a slam poet named Peter (Lanny Joon) to invest both art and soul into its latest creation. The robot, AIMEE, a square white cube with a female voice box (voiced by Stephanie Lincoln), develops an unhealthy attachment to the young slammer; newly empowered, it throws a wrench into his personal love life while wreaking violence on the less likable members of the company. The latter include Larry (Charles Kim), the boorish engineer who built AIMEE, and Missy (Elaine Kao), the company’s officious attorney. Directed by Chil Kong, the piece leaves many secondary plot points unexplained but succeeds by virtue of its wry humor and lack of pretentiousness. As the beset-upon artist, Joon handles his character’s absurd circumstances with diffident charm. Kim is appropriately obnoxious as his foil and Alberto Isaac’s self-important CEO strikes just the right ironic note. But Kao’s bossy lawyer comes off as stilted and over-the-top while Peter’s girlfriend, Julia Cho, seems prosaically whiny. Designer Dennis Yen’s sound and music add pacing and style, as does costumer Ivy Y. Chou’s use of color. A more sophisticated lighting plot might also highlight the comedy, but designer Louis Delgado’s resources appeared to be limited. GTC Burbank, 1111-B West Olive Ave., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 25. (323) 993-7245. A Lodestone Theatre Ensemble production. (Deborah Klugman)