THEATER REVIEW ‘TALKING WITH’ : Finite Variety : A set of monologues presents women who are too much alike to be interesting.

“Talking With,” the current production of Moorpark College’s theater department, is subtitled “11 intimate portraits of women.”

After making its debut at Louisville’s Actors Theater, the work went on to win the American Theatre Critics Assn. award as Best Regional Play of 1982. Not a play, strictly speaking, but a series of monologues, it might more accurately be called “Talking At” or “Listening To.”

Eleven women, characters covering a range of ages and interests, address the audience with 10-minute soliloquies dealing with anecdotes from their lives. From these, we’re apparently supposed to draw some idea of woman’s infinite variety.

In truth, there isn’t all that much variety here. All but one are of European-American ancestry, and all tend to be economically middle-class or lower. Two are actresses. The one non-Caucasian is a bag lady.

All 11 actresses, including director and set designer Katherine Lewis pulling extra duty, handle the material they’re given nicely. The cast includes Debora Inman and Jennifer Racine as the actresses, Lisa Squeo as a disillusioned former champion baton twirler, Berneita Maniece as an older woman displaying her collection of treasured lamps, Shannon Maben as the bag lady and Andra White as a woman in advanced labor--about to give birth, she swears, to a dragon.

Sue Dryden portrays a housewife with fantasies built around an obscure character in L. Frank Baum’s Oz series, Donna Davidson’s character discusses her late mother, and Lewis (offstage, the head of Moorpark College’s theater department) explains why her body is covered with tattoos.

Two of my favorites were Wendy Burna’s crusty rodeo veteran and Dana Harris as a fundamentalist snake handler, who casually explains her craft.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Talking With” concludes this weekend, with performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Moorpark College Forum Theater, 7075 Campus Road. Tickets are $7, $5 for students, staff and seniors. For directions or information, call 378-1410.