STAGE REVIEW : Dialogue Takes Spotlight in Young Playwrights’ Debut

One doesn’t see men playing women every day on San Diego stages. How curious that at the same time John Fleck is giving an unforgettable performance as the granny in the Old Globe’s “The Granny,” he has an analogue across town in teen-ager Nelio Tabiu, who plays the small but very funny part of a fussy woman in “Avatar of Descent.”

The play is one of four one-acts by young writers being presented by the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company through Jan. 21 as part of the fifth annual California Young Playwrights Project. The female impersonation, of course, is just one of those odd coincidences. But another comparison between “The Granny” and “Plays by Young Writers ‘89” does bear noting:

“The Granny,” a difficult piece that hinges on an audience’s ease with abstraction and symbols, ultimately may be remembered less for itself than for the opportunity it gave Argentine playwright Roberto M. Cossa, to speak to local audiences through an acting ensemble. Similarly, “Plays by Young Writers ‘89” (at the Elizabeth North Theatre) should not be noted for the scripts as much as for the voice it gives--not only to the four winning writers represented here, but to several young actors, many of them new to San Diego stages, who embrace these parts with energy, verve and passion.

The California Young Playwrights Project, under the inspired direction of Deborah Salzer, should be commended annually for the opportunities it offers hundreds of teen-age writers to study the craft of writing and to see their work professionally developed. Audiences, however, should remind themselves that what the work itself offers is, for the most part, not the polish of maturity but a fascinating look at talents-in-progress.

The strength of the plays this year lies in dialogue rather than in structure. The stories, despite expert attention by four directors, trail and taper off, shifting into and out of focus. The real show ultimately becomes the range of style and subject matter as the evening moves from sitcom (“Someday”) to melodrama (“Setbacks”) to surrealism (“The Testing of Abraham”) to fringe theater (“Avatar of Descent”).

The most mature work of the four, “The Testing of Abraham” by 18-year-old Aaron Arredondo of Fresno, suggests the dark sensibility of a very young Christopher Durang or even a David Mamet. Preacher Angel, forcefully played by Joe Powers, walks into the living room of All-American Abraham and Sarah, smilingly played by Michael A. Schwarz and Catherine Maynard in bright red-white-and-blue gym clothes. Armed with a big cross and Bible, the preacher spouts chapter and verse to convince Abraham that his life is a sham and that to truly live again he must kill his wife.

The conflict, nicely directed by Nonnie Vishner, is clear, but the play fudges on the central question of whether the preacher is real (and if so, why does he want Sarah dead?) or if he just exists inside the secretly discontented Abraham’s head. The latter case could provide an interesting look at a religiously rationalized descent into madness. Instead, the promising premise descends into confusion (which, to be fair, often happens to the mature Mamet and Durang, too).

“Someday,” by 16-year-old Gina Bowman of Anaheim, is “The Odd Couple” of the lot--a simple tale of a white Russian ballerina’s daughter in New York who runs off to meet movie stars, and instead connects with a black ghetto girl of the same age in East L.A. Both girls like to dance--although their styles, like their personalities, are as different as, well, those of Felix and Oscar.

Bowman can be funny: The biggest moment is when Milla, the Russian girl, tells a joke with the punch line in Russian and expects her friend to laugh. The play is well served by Sonja Azizov as the innocent, precise Russian girl and Myisha Wright as the upfront ghetto girl, Penny. Ann Lyon’s direction masters individual moments better than it works as a whole.

Unfortunately, neither Bowman nor Lyon seems to know how to end the work. Bowman seems desperate for a happy ending that doesn’t come naturally. When she tries to force it, she loses the ingenuousness that is the play’s chief charm.

In “Setbacks,” by 17-year-old Eric Kobrick of San Diego, the conflict is also simple, but repetitive: A young boy, Scott, passionately played by Matthew Mabe, fights with his father (Ernie McCray) over the way the father treats a never-seen younger brother who has Down’s syndrome.

Scott wants his father to love his brother; the father can’t or won’t. Kobrick’s strength is in creating the natural, gritty setting; the strength of director Mark Hofflund is in keeping the heat high. But the play sags under the weight of being more monologue than dialogue: The father, ultimately, has nothing to say.

“Avatar of Descent,” by 18-year-old Jay Schwartz of Culver City is the most experimental work of the lot. It plunges inside the mind of a teen-ager (Deke Kennerson) who is confused about his sexuality and who speaks through incarnations, including a neo-Nazi, (chillingly played by Christopher Morris) and a woman (Nelio Tabiu) watering a miniature village in a place called Toyland.

Director Bartlett Sher seems in his element here, using John Cage music and images of mental bric-a-brac to create the dream state of this difficult, poetic piece. There are wonderful moments. But “Avatar of Descent” is not well served by its placement at the end of the third hour of these works: The desire to see more is accompanied by the feeling that a two-hour program might have served all the work better.

‘PLAYS BY YOUNG WRITERS ‘89’

“Someday,” by Gina Bowman, directed by Ann Lyon; “Setbacks,” by Eric Kobrick, directed by Mark Hofflund; “The Testing of Abraham,” by Aaron Arredondo, directed by Nonnie Vishner; “Avatar of Descent,” by Jay Schwartz, directed by Bartlett Sher. Lighting by J.A. Roth. Costumes by Stacey Rae. Sets by Martin Lechner. Sound by Malcolm Lowe. With Sonja Azizov, Christopher Morris, Calixto Hernandez, Myisha Wright, Matthew Mabe, Ernie McCray, Michael A. Schwarz, Catherine Maynard, Joe Powers, Deke Kennerson, Annie Weisman and Nelio Tabiu. At 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday with Saturday/Sunday matinees at 2 through Jan. 21. Tickets are $6 to $8. At 547 4th Ave., San Diego, (619) 234-9583.