STAGE REVIEW : WITTY CHAT ON THE WORLD’S BIRTHDAY

A famous archbishop decided that the world was created in the year 4004 BC. He was off by about 4.5 billion years. But nobody’s perfect.

The imperfections of the human animal are quite apparent in “October 22, 4004 B.C., Saturday,” a scintillating comedy by Suzanne Lummis at the Cast. If you appreciate witty, heady dialogue that virtually dances off the stage, join the “October 22” party.

The party was Jennifer’s idea. Each year she gathers a group of friends to celebrate the world’s birthday and “to see how far we’ve all come.” By “we,” she means more than the three couples who show up; she means the entire human race. Still, she has to start somewhere, and it might as well be with these six people.

Her friends have other ideas, as friends often do. None is as intent on making sure that everything makes sense as Jennifer is.

First we meet the women, playing cards and talking about men--but not about anything as mundane as which man is cutest. No, their ruminations cover such subjects as whether all men should be sent to Wyoming, and whether winking has anything to do with man’s murderous habits.

Then we meet the men, playing bumper pool and talking similarly about women. Finally the women confront the men with a drastic request. What follows is an elaborate roundelay of explanations, revelations and reconciliations, directed by Robert Schrock with a fluidity that’s almost musical.

“October 22” is as notable for what it isn’t as for what it is.

Lummis doesn’t tell us her characters’ biographies. We don’t know if their childhoods were unhappy, or what they do for a living.

In real life, these people probably wouldn’t socialize with one another--certainly the men wouldn’t. But this is a play, in the literal sense of the word, and the audience plays along with Lummis just as the guests play along with Jennifer’s cockeyed ideas.

These couples are as artificial as those in “The Importance of Being Earnest” or a Feiffer cartoon, and the piece has an uncluttered grace because of it--a quality that’s respected by production designer Steven T. Howell.

Not that the actors are ciphers. Each of them--Susan Stokey, Marlene Fisher, Charles Shapiro, Peter Lempert, Chuck Gresham--brings something distinctive to the play. Eleanor Hedge’s yuppie duds also help delineate the respective points of view.

Perhaps the funniest member of the sextet is Lummis herself as Lucy, the mousiest of the women.

Of Lucy, one of the others says that “everything comes to a standstill when she thinks.” Yet now and then she comes up with a comment that prompts the other women to remark, in a rather condescending tone, “You’ve been saying some really good things today, Lucy.”

Forget the condescension.

When Lummis herself thinks, everything starts moving. And she is saying some really good things.

Performances are at 804 N. El Centro Ave., Mondays through Wednesdays at 8 p.m., through March 18, (213) 462-0265.