The Sansei Life in ‘Webster Street Blues’

Four Japanese-American teen-agers come to terms with ethnic stereotypes and ‘70s social change in the late Warren Sumio Kubota’s “Webster Street Blues,” newly opened at East West Players.

“It’s about the relationship of four Sansei: third-generation Japanese-Americans,” said actress Nobu McCarthy, who’s directing. “It’s set in the Japanese community in San Francisco in 1972. So it’s contemporary, but not up to date. A big difference, I think, is that the feeling within Japanese-Americans is more solid, more at peace now. In those days there was much more examination of who they were, how they fit into society.”

McCarthy (who co-starred with Mako in the 1988 feature film “The Wash”) hopes that the play’s ultimate effect will be a diminution of stereotypes: “Most people think of Japanese kids as very studious, that the future’s cut out for them. Well, it’s not so. These characters have problems like any other youngsters. They’re young human beings, trying to grow up and survive in their limited place. It shows that we’re all people, all Americans. It’s beyond ethnicity.”

ONE-ACTS WANTED: Nuevo La Chicano Theatreworks, a new project of Plaza de la Raza, welcomes submissions of one-acts (no more than 45 minutes long) by Mexican-American writers. Six of the plays will be selected for polishing in a two-week workshop, complete with a director and actors, and three of the plays will be given a full production in October at Plaza de la Raza’s Margo Albert Theatre.

The plays may be written in English, Spanish, or a combination of both languages.

Entries should include two copies of the script, a synopsis, and a brief biography of the writer. Send entries by June 30 to Jay Stephens Rodriguez, 3540 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles, Calif. 90031.

Information: (213) 223-2475.

LEAPIN’ LIZARDS: Two humans and two lizards meet on a deserted beach in Edward Albee’s “Seascape” (1975), at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills.

“The lizards are green, have scales and webbed feet,” director Brian Nelson said of the life-sized reptiles. “Of course, through the magic of theater--and every science-fiction film ever made--the lizards speak English. But just because they speak English doesn’t mean they can communicate. The lizards know words like food, mating, swim, whales. They don’t understand words that are abstractions--like decency, pride, jealousy, hope and love.”

At the heart of the human/lizard communion is the question of the continuation of civilization.

“The couple are in their advanced years,” Nelson explained. “They’re at the end of their lives, facing ‘What do we do in retirement? Do we continue to achieve or go gently into that good night?’ I think it’s something our society is prone to do: ‘Well, we’ve done a good job; we can relax now.’ These humans are passing a baton to the lizards--the nature of love, the nature of mortality. The question is whether the lizards will be able to learn their lessons.”

CRITICAL CROSSFIRE: John Godber’s “Happy Jack,” the story of a British miner and his wife, is winding up its run at the Coast Playhouse. Ron Link directs husband-and-wife John Larroquette and Elizabeth Larroquette.

Said Sylvie Drake in The Times: “For a scant 80 minutes, (the actors) beguile and seduce. What they can’t do, no matter how gamely they try, is to make the play more than the modest exercise it is. No matter how charming, tender and affectionate ‘Jack’ my be, it has specific limitations.”

In the Daily News, Tom Jacobs wrote: “Full of genuine sweetness but not lacking an edge, ‘Happy Jack’ displays a different side of Link and Godber’s work. It doesn’t have the manic energy of ‘Bouncers’ or the angry feminism of ‘Shakers.’ But it does have the same theatrical savvy.”

The Herald Examiner’s Richard Stayton credited a “shrewd, economical” staging, yet noted, “We rarely accept this Liz and Jack as anything other than eccentric romantics. Nor does the background of the oppressive coal fields come alive, despite Madeline Ann Kozlowski’s coal-dusted costumes.”

Said Kathleen O’Steen in Daily Variety: “It’s all done in a highly stylized vein with a series of short scenes, snippets of dialogue and third-person storytelling. What it ultimately ends up doing is giving little depth to two people who are deeply rooted.”

And from Drama-Logue’s Lee Melville: “Not much really happens to Jack and Liz, but it is a delight to watch a play with no more on its mind than telling a simple and touching story. . . . Link’s ability to let a scene breathe without slowing the pace shows instinctive confidence. The Larroquettes deliver glowing performances.”