STAGE REVIEW : ‘Cat’s-Paw’ Goes After Messenger in Drama About Terrorism, Media : Theater: The error in the script doesn’t come from the questions the writer raises in his direct way, but from how he tips the scales.

Criticizing the media, especially television, for their coverage of terrorism has become routine, almost cliche. Finding fault with an imperfect system asked to be near-perfect comes easily.

There’s little room for apologists, though. Even the media realize that they keep repeating the same mistakes when viewers or readers are at stake. But only the most cynical observers would cite the media at the root of the problem, a culprit whose crimes are equal to those of the terrorist.

That’s pretty close to William Mastrosimone’s starting point in “Cat’s-Paw,” his drama now at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. The setting is an abandoned warehouse (Eugene McDonald’s scenery is all gray disrepair), the event is a “hostage crisis” and the principals include a psychologically abused victim, his brutal captors and an ambitious television newswoman who is given special access to report the unfolding story.

In Jessica Lyons (Deborah Grattan), we find more than the usual “talking head.” She’s a reporter with a national reputation for investigative work; her credentials are so impressive, they’ve charmed Victor (Ken Perkins), a terrorist who appears committed, even rational, when rhapsodizing about his causes, but who actually is insane.

Victor and his partner (Josui), a naive girl swaddled in combat fatigues, have kidnaped a minor Environmental Protection Agency official to publicize global water pollution. Lyons is brought in to do the publicity.

The hub of “Cat’s-Paw” is what motivates both Victor and Jessica, their not-so-subtle dance around the issues of how far the media can go in their reporting; when do the media become used by the people they cover. Jessica wants a dramatic sound bite, something that will play in every living room around the world, and Victor wants the world’s rapt attention.

The error in “Cat’s-Paw” doesn’t come from the questions Mastrosimone raises in his direct way, but from how he tips the scales. In placing culpability as much on Jessica as on Victor, he shifts the focus from the outrageousness of the terrorist act. The inhumanity of the captors is obvious, but it doesn’t occupy center stage. The play is more rhetorical than dramatic.

At Costa Mesa, director Marthella Randall goes at it all with passion and dispatch; this is a quick 90-minute production. But despite the energy, she is unable to overcome the drama’s faults--the situation doesn’t seem believable, we aren’t fully involved by it.

The exception to this comes when Steve Sturm as the hostage is on stage. It’s not that Sturm’s performance is so outstanding--although it is pretty good--it’s more that through him we feel a human element in Mastrosimone’s writing that isn’t so apparent in the rest of the play. His devastation gives “Cat’s-Paw” some gravity.

Grattan tries to give Lyons a human element as well and does have a few affecting moments, especially when depicting the ethical contradictions she feels when making decisions about how she should cover the story.

Perkins gives Victor the right self-righteous, smug facade, but fails to give him the needed layer of obsession that would make the character more convincing. He touches on it in the last scene, but it’s not enough. As his soldier, Josui is an impressionable victim of his strong personality.

‘CAT’S-PAW’

A Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse production of William Mastrosimone’s drama. Directed by Marthella Randall. With Ken Perkins, Steve Sturm, Josui and Deborah Grattan. Set by Eugene McDonald. Lighting by David Sharp. Sound by Jim Bell. Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. through Nov. 26. Tickets: $8 and $9. (714) 650-5269.