‘Savage / Love’ at the Strasberg; ‘Long Day’s Journey’ at the Skylight; ’60 Minutes From L.A.’ at Dynarski; ‘Big Time’ at Beverly Hills

“Savage/Love,” a collaborative theater piece by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin, is a primal, burnished series of real and imagined moments dealing with the spell of love.

Director Laura J. Graham’s ambitious production serves as a perfect introduction to a splendid new environmental performance space, the Haven, up a rickety flight of stairs and off the alley at the Lee Strasberg Creative Center.

Normally presented as a monologue, “Savage/Love” here is performed by a man and woman (Peter Cohl and Annabel Schofield) to the richly revealing accompaniment of well-known percussionist Peter Edward “Ginger” Baker (the drummer of Cream in the ‘60s and one of music’s most acclaimed drummers ever since).

Baker’s brushes and cymbals elaborate imaginatively, often delicately, on the written work. The production becomes a truly syncopated lovers’ experience. “I want to have your dreams inside me,” says the man, and Baker’s cymbals nourish the yearning.

In addition, the production’s choreography keeps body language as important as the verbal imagery. At one point, the lovers, like panthers, square off in an encirclement drawn tighter by Baker’s accompanying bass drum.

Baker, who created his own rhythms, doesn’t make the show; the two actors, with Welsh native Schofield in an impressive stage debut, would be strong by themselves. But at the Haven, which features 25 seats around three walls, the multi-media effect is especially addictive.

Both the lovers’ closeness (“I’m haunted by your scent when I’m talking to someone else”) and their distance (the dread of being replaced) converge in the short 45-minute piece.

Sometimes Cohl’s monologues seem too studied. But the choreographic duets are liquefaction. The love is evident in their listening faces . . . and in a lovers’ worry: “When we’re tangled up in sleep,” wonders the man, “Is it my leg you feel your leg against/Or is it Paul Newman’s leg?”

Performances at 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., Wednesdays - Saturdays, 8:30 p.m., through March 11. Tickets: $15. (213) 466-1767.