STAGE REVIEW : Fine-Tuning Keeps ‘Gift From Heaven’ on Top of Its Form

Novice playwright David Steen’s Appalachian family drama, “A Gift From Heaven,” has been running since late June at the Chamber Theater--making it one of the most durable Equity Waiver success stories in Los Angeles theater.

Its longevity is not up there with that of “Bleacher Bums” or “Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will?),” but then no one figured a play about incest and snarly, glum, dirt-poor characters to have commercial legs. Critics were slow to show up, and the show was set to close in July until the first notices appeared.

Suddenly Jose Quintero was in the audience with Broadway producer Elliot Martin. (Martin is now negotiating to option the play for Off-Broadway).

How has this production managed to thrive? A visit back to the show reveals an answer: Nobody’s sitting on clippings or taking popularity in stride. The production has continued to grow; some hard changes have been made. The four-character play, finally nearing the end of its run, has changed in subtle but discernible measures.

The production has two new actors (Beth Grant as the savage mother and Pat Cochran as her dim son), and the script has been trimmed and momentum tightened in the quiet emotional tornado that concludes the action. Not unimportantly, there’s now one intermission instead of two.

Playwright Steen (who co-produced with director Jim Holmes) fired himself as the lone male actor so he could better observe the play and refine it. In one of those tough decisions producers make, he also bumped the original mother (Sarah Hunley, who was quite impressive) and brought in a much more physically fierce mountain woman in actress Beth Grant.

Grant’s deranged mom is more violent than Hunley’s, perhaps a bit too ferocious, boxing her two kids on the head with little letup. The departed Hunley gave the play a haunted, pale mystery. Grant gives it a constant sense of alarm.

One interpretation is not superior to the other, but the result is a different play, psychologically. The audience sees only what it sees, but Steen’s refusal to stand back and leave his hit alone is probably a big reason why the production still draws. It’s still opening night.

The production’s durability is also traced to exceptional execution. This play in the hands of lesser talents (and that certainly includes the technical designers) could explode in melodrama.

The two mainstays of the production--the remarkable Banks Harper as the muddy, angry, raggedy daughter and the beautifully withdrawn Leanne Griffin as the visiting cousin--are as country as hickory sticks. As for the new boy, Cochran doesn’t have Steen’s cabbage patch look (or the clodhopper accent). But he is otherwise jittery-fine as mama’s incestuous “gift from heaven.”

At 3759 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Fridays through Sundays, 8 p.m., until Dec. 18. Tickets: $12.50. (213) 466-1767.