STAGE REVIEW : Moments of Power in This ‘Town’

In one of the deep ironies of American history, less than adecade after the Allies brought an end to Hitler’s persecutions, witch hunts took on fresh life in the United States.

One of the more famous ones was Sen. Joe McCarthy’s hunt for what he termed “card-carrying Communists.” Before he fell out of power in 1954, his accusations fueled a national hysteria that resulted in blacklists that drove people out of their jobs, caused needless despair and, in some cases, suicide.

Less-known, but similarly destructive, was an anti-homosexual crusade in Boise, Ida., launched in October, 1955. Before it ended, lives were ruined and families were torn apart as 1,500 people were investigated--some gay, some not--and 16 were arrested on the basis of a false story that more than 100 boys were involved in a homosexual ring.

“Small Town Confidential,” now in its San Diego premiere by Diversionary Theatre, tells the story of what has been referred to in the press as the “Boys of Boise.” The show, which is occasionally electrifying, but more often frustrating in its failure to capitalize on the richness of its material, plays at the Fritz Theatre, a new intimate, 49-seat house at 338 7th Ave.

The play, by Jim Pfanner, meanders and takes on a static quality by telling us rather than showing us what happens.

One character, named simply “the gossip,” narrates much of the story; that device is funny at first, but wears thin. References are made to the witch hunt as a political plot to force someone out of power, but there are no scenes between the powers-that-were to back up this claim. Much hinges on the tense relationship between two brothers--one, a suspected gay--but the script’s failure to explain their initial hostility toward each other robs their later reconciliation of dramatic impact.

This is, in short, far from a polished production.

And yet the inherent drama in the story, and the deep feeling the company infuses in these portrayals, occasionally breaks through the thin characterizations and stagy delivery to bring home moments of transcending power.

When the accused brother (Jerry Rude)--who has been leading a “straight” life, complete with wife and two kids--reaches back into his past, and painfully digs up memories of desire that make him question his own sexual identity, the play starts to tap into its source of strength. It shows how adversity can be a liberating force, ultimately leaving one character feeling more free in jail than he felt in his “free” but closeted life.

In another powerful moment that works wordlessly, a homosexual hairdresser, Eddie (Jake Jacobson), is transformed from an anxious, sweet man with a blond toupee before incarceration to a depressed, balding man in jail.

The direction of Reuel Olin, the executive director of Diversionary, a gay and lesbian company, reflects a deep feeling for the material that produces the show’s best and worst moments. At times, especially when the show moves toward its conclusion, the work is riveting. At others, when the piece is supposed to be building to its dramatic peaks, his seeming reverence for the material gives too much room to unimportant scenes, allowing them to drag on while actors indulge in soap opera histrionics.

The cast is an uneven mix of talent. Some of the best work comes from Jacobson, who is genuinely moving as the sad hair stylist. David Mills smolders under an innocent pretense as a hustler turned informer, and Will Collins gives a forceful performance as the savvy defense lawyer determined to set things right.

Rude, in the all-important part of the accused brother whose time of trial brings him to a deeper understanding of himself, struggles with his characterization in the early scenes but finds his way, poignantly, in the later ones. There are moments between him and Joe Fitzpatrick as his deep-into-denial brother, Lou, that are painfully touching.

The set design by Mark Allan Mendes is a terrific asset. The action occurs against a backdrop of larger-than-life white picket fences. They tower over the characters as if threatening them with conformity. Later, one senses their similarity to prison bars in the jail scenes that dominate the end of the play.

The simple but effective lighting design by Griffin Stockton also highlights Mendes’ clever use of four distinct playing spaces on the tiny Fritz stage: the gossip speaks from a window overlooking the action, while separate spaces are set up for the court interrogation, the prison and the brothers’ home.

“Small Town Confidential,” like the recent North Coast Repertory Theatre production of Hugh Whitemore’s “Breaking the Code” (the story of how British mathematical genius Alan Turing, who committed suicide in 1954 after being persecuted for his homosexuality), draws power from its references to real-life events of close to 40 years ago.

“Small Town Confidential” is not as artistically thought-out, but it has a potential that deserves further development.

“SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL”

By Jim Pfanner. Director is Reuel Olin. Technical direction by David Obele. Sets by Mark Alan Mendes. Lighting by Griffin Stockton. Sound by David Gums and Colleen Kendall. With Will Collins, Joe Fitzpatrick, Pat Hansen, David Hough, Jake Jacobson, Colleen Kendall, David Mills, Jerry Rude and Rob Smith. At 7 p.m. Thursday and Sunday and 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through Dec. 1. Tickets are $8-$10. At the Fritz Theatre, 338 7th Ave., San Diego, 232-2333.