STAGE REVIEW : Taking Williams at Face Value at OCC

Much like his short stories, Tennessee Williams’ one-act plays are slight, lyrical and romantic expressions. And like his full-length dramas, they dwell (sometimes inordinately) on characters who must create a fantasy environment to survive the hardness of real life, a place made that way by hard people.

Williams dabbled in one-acts (and short stories) all through his career; some acted as poetic outlines for the larger works, many stood alone. Most are at least interesting as the by-products of an almost always interesting writer; a few are truly remarkable.

Of the three one-acts offered at Orange Coast College, only one (“27 Wagons Full of Cotton”) qualifies as an example of consistently compelling writing. But the other two (“Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen”and “This Property Is Condemned”) can hold you, especially when seen as building blocks in the Williams library.

At OCC, the student actors (the women, in particular) too often take Williams’ defeated or exploitative characters at face value. Assuming that his defeated ladies and confused or harsh men are not much more than that sometimes leads to a superficial treatment that glosses over the natural complexity of Williams’ style. Still, there is a hard-working earnestness here that, while usually hitting only a few notes, keeps the audience involved and helps to justify the productions.

In “27 Wagons” (directed by Ponzer Berkman), Williams’ much-emphasized vision of sex as a cruel tool of subordination and power is given a brief, but sharp focus. Just about put out of business by the syndicate cotton mill, independent operator Jake (played with redneck crudeness by Scott Parks) torches the mill and subsequently wins a ginning contract.

But the mill manager, Viccaro (the menacing Lonnie Alcaraz), suspects Jake, and when he comes to cement the deal, everything takes an eerie turn. Jake leaves Viccaro alone with his wife (Laura Hinsberger), and Viccaro, intent on revenge, abuses her both physically and mentally. It seems that sadomasochism is just one of the perversions to flourish in this Southern backwater.

The tone is much more austere and dream-like in “Talk to Me Like the Rain,” directed by Glendele Way. The playlet opens with a nameless couple (Steven Shults and Ellen Buckley) plodding through the morning and apparently trying to find a balance in their individual and collective lives.

There are reams of ruminations about the hardships experienced by both and the woman’s sad fantasies (she wants to grow old anonymously in an anonymous-but-friendly hotel, away from him), but the overall feeling is more of lifelessness than anything else. Way’s direction exacerbates this one-act’s problems by emphasizing its somber self-consciousness and obscure nature.

In “This Property Is Condemned” (directed by Keith Wolfe), Willie (played with spunk by Rose Farquhar) is a young girl, intent on make-believe, trying to understand impending womanhood and struggling with the unnatural events of her earlier life.

Into these moody meanderings comes Tom (played with the right innocence by Steven Shults), a boy who tries to keep up with Willie’s fast-talk but, more than anything, would like to see her dance naked like she did for another boy. Their innocence collides in an awareness of the trials of growing up.

‘AN EVENING OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’

Three Williams’ one-acts produced by the Orange Coast College Repertory Theater. Directed by Glendele Way, Keith Wolfe and Ponzer Berkman. With Steven Shults, Ellen Buckley, Rose Farquhar, Laura Hinsberger, Lonnie Alcaraz and Scott Parks. Lighting by Brandon Faloona. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. in the Studio Theatre, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $4.50 and $6. (714) 432-5880.