STAGE REVIEW : Stereotypes Walk Streets of a Banal ‘Western Ave.’

Stand on the corner of Western Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard on a Saturday night and watch the action. The old guy on crutches and his bulky friend in the New York Yankees jacket--what’s their story? The car full of screaming kids. There goes a police car after them.

Walk back to the Ensemble Studio Theatre for the second act of “Western Ave.” The drop in pressure tells the story. Rather than the promised trip down Los Angeles’ longest street, this is just another evening of workshop scenes.

The best one--we are speaking relatively--ends with an outraged Korean shopkeeper trying to outstare a nervous black holdup man. The situation isn’t new, but the racial lineup is, and the dance/mime frame (with performers from the Korean American Folk Dance Company) gives the piece a certain style.

Elsewhere, “Western Ave.” trots out as many stereotypes as the Taper’s “The Colored Museum,” with this crucial difference: “The Colored Museum” knows that they are stereotypes. “Western Ave.” presents them as original findings.

For example, there’s a number about a Hollywood starlet writing home to her mother about having met this big producer at a party. Guess what, Mom--he’s going to put me in his next picture! This sketch is set in 1955, and it doesn’t help. The idea was a cliche then, too.

There is another number about a stripper. She may look as if she enjoys her work, but she needs to pop a handful of pills to get her out on that runway. Somehow, this is not a surprise.

Again, if your intention is to create sympathy for street people, it just doesn’t work (maybe it did in the 1930s) to have a shabby figure do an interpretive dance around a garbage can. All we do is sit in judgment on her pirouettes.

Given the vitality of the real Western Avenue, and the variety of Patt Morrison’s articles about it in The Times (the inspiration of the piece), it’s hard to see how the show’s creators could have settled for such a banal representation of L.A. life.

Perhaps it comes down to this: The Ensemble Studio Theatre is basically an actors’ workshop, and the job of the journeyman actor in Hollywood is to play a type: a fat-bellied sheriff, a cheerful mom who has vanquished static cling.

This gets actors to seeing real people that way. (Show business people are allowed some texture, as with the three aspiring directors in “Western Ave.” who are trying to get a second year’s berth at AFI. The sketch goes nowhere, but there are a few smiles along the way.)

It could also be that “Western Ave.” simply went off the track somewhere between the original idea and the final execution. (Steve Sachs is listed as “artistic coordinator,” but there’s no directing credit.) Saturday night’s show certainly ended lamely, with the lights coming up on an empty stage--no bows. Is this any way to celebrate a community?

Performances at 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, at 3 p.m. Sundays. Closes June 12. Tickets $12-$15. 1089 N. Oxford Ave. (213) 466-2916.

‘WESTERN AVE.’

A dramatic collage at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, based on Patt Morrison’s series in The Times. Artistic coordinator Stephen Sachs. Producers Kelley Adam Smith and Dale Howard. Original idea Rena Down. Set Stephen Sachs. Lighting Kevin Mahan. Scenic artist John Howard. Stage manager Christopher Sumpton. Assistant light and sound operator Jim Chambers. Sketches: “This Is the Life,” choreographed by Mikl Kiwas, danced by Kiwas. Julia Gerdes, Stephanie Willis. “Starlet,” written by Mitch Giannunzio, directed by Eugenia Bostwick, performed by Lauren Cole. “My Favorite Movie,” written and directed by Charles Lang, performed by Martha Ferris, Jack Kahler and Albert Macklin. “Taxi Dancer,” written by Janice Van Horne, directed by Diann McCannon, performed by KelliAnn Orlando. ‘Girls Girls Girls,” choreographed and performed by Julia Gerdes. “Joquin Murietta,” written by Mitch Giannunzio, directed by Michael Chieffo, performed by Casey Kramer, Ernest Emling and Eugene Alper. “Jungles,” choreographed by Stephanie Willis, performed by Mikl Kiwas, Julia Gerdes, Stephanie Willis, “Promised Land,” written and directed by Susan Ricketts, based on two monologues by Chris Jarmick. Choreographed by Sunny Chung and Ron Brown. Actors: Wesley Thompson, Geoffrey Thorn, Master Ho-Sik-Pak, Susan Rhee, Julie Summer. Dancers: Barbara Dawe, Lemar Hawkins, Leo Tee, Hawkin Chan. From the Korean American Folk Dance Company: Kee-Ok Chang, Sunny Chung.