FESTIVAL ’90 : STAGE REVIEWS OPEN FESTIVAL : ‘Loudmouth’--a Comic Confessional

“Loudmouth Chowder” is a work that straddles a shaky artistic fault line--on one side is showcase performance, on the other is a personal reflection of a woman’s identity crisis.

At Angel’s Gate Cultural Center (the show is moving to the Off-Ramp Theatre in October), the showcase belongs to Joanne Green-Levine, who plays Beth, a tough-luck New York actress on her way back home to her parents’ funeral. She also plays the people she meets on her trip as well as in her memories of life with the folks. All of them talk in torrential, comically confessional flows.

This blending of observance and remembrance by co-writers Green-Levine and director Melanie Jones makes Beth’s adventure more of a journey than a series of marginally connected monologues.

They also have a sense for the element of surprise, as with a cross-dressing ex-NFL lineman or the parents’ deaths--drunkenly doing the tango right off a pier.

Beth gets lost in the urban jungle too long however, as if the authors felt the need for more episodes. Less of these would help Green-Levine’s behaviorally precise, if not speedy, character-switching.

At 3061 Gaffey St., San Pedro, Fridays through Sundays, 8 p.m., until Sept. 16. $10 ; (213) 519-0936.

Campy ‘Sonoratown’

Los Angeles history is so replete with episodes of real-estate gangsterism, rampant racism and government-sponsored thievery that it’s difficult for any retelling not to be satiric. Writer-director Joel Bloom, who brought us that loopy theater-as-drive-in trilogy, “Mayhem at Mayfield Mall,” can’t keep a straight face about anything and loves throwing daggers at the greedy rich. The arrival of Bloom’s take on Los Angeles’ heritage was just a matter of time.

He calls it “Showdown at Sonoratown: The Lady Who Stole Hollywood,” and at Al’s Bar, it’s downright rough and rowdy. Campy down to its boots, Bloom’s comedy bounces 1990s hip off of 1790s hell-raising: Indians go surfing, a deputy named Gates Block (get it?) hands out traffic tickets, and rich gringos named Trump and Keating want to steal Mexican rancho land for development.

Noble Mexicans become somewhat dull in this kind of cheekiness, but Nikko Rey’s good guy is a hero to look up to. It’s OK to hiss the stupid, delicious villains, led by Robbin Harvey Trousdale’s Trump and Mike Wiles’ Jack Powers--as in powers-that-be.

At 305 S. Hewitt St., on Mondays through Wednesdays, 8 p.m., until Oct. 31. $8; (213) 466-1767.