More Than Meets the Eye in Intriguing ‘Beetles’

Raymond Wilson is just graduating from high school, and has found a goal in life. He wants to see with his own eyes the Egyptian unicorn beetle, as filmed for TV by Dr. Kate Algoode. He’s even re-created the beetle in its natural habitat in a living diorama, which he sends to the good doctor.

Wait a minute. Douglas D. Smith’s set is a duplicate of Raymond’s diorama. What happens inside it is also an artificial re-creation in Malcolm MacDonald’s “The Beetles,” at 2nd Stage. Under Paul Fagen’s direction, it’s a strange but intriguing specimen, a sort of mash note to the beauty of living dreams.

At first the Wilsons seem that rarity, probably America’s only functional family--all smiles and consideration. They are cartoons, the women with outlandish bouffant hairdos (Armando the hairstylist will figure prominently in their lives), and the men are drawn with crayons.

Then, MacDonald’s pathway starts to twist. Mama is jailed, while Dad goes off to play golf, and Raymond takes Dad’s secretary and Armando the hairdresser to Egypt to hunt the beetle. Gradually, along about intermission time, things begin to look awfully normal. Reality is destroying the dream and replacing the images in the diorama. The message is clear. Beauty, and dreams, are what’s important, and what lasts.

The changes in the diorama images, emotionally and stylistically, are as sure-footed as those in Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud Nine,” and expertly accomplished by the whole cast, but particularly Tabi Cooper as the mother, Peter M. O’Neill as Raymond, and a hilarious Tulis McCall as Armando, who isn’t at all who--or what--he seems.

“The Beetles,” 2nd Stage, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Jan. 26. $6-$10; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.

‘Miss Dessa’: Warm Humor, Familiar Field

Dessa is a schoolteacher, just about to hit 40, unmarried, but living a full life through her work, and raising her 18-year-old nephew, Eugene, who was dropped on her at age 3 by her flyaway brother. Now, her two sisters want to sell the family home so they’ll all be wealthy.

Shirley Hardy-Leonard’s romantic comedy “Miss Dessa,” at Crossroads Little Theatre in Los Angeles, looks very familiar and doesn’t go much below its surface for fresh insights that might give it distinction, but it has warmth and some rich humor along the way.

The play is too good to remain out of balance, despite Pemon Rami’s indulgence of some sitcom performances in his energetic direction. Patricia Belcher, as the religious Sister, is way overboard throughout, as is Whitman Mayo as a nonagenarian suitor she tries to foist off on Dessa. When she calms down as flamboyant sister Althea, Karen Williams is funny, and often touching.

The play’s strong points are best seen in the performances of Claudette Roche’s charming, well-defined Dessa, and Craig Baylis’ volatile Eugene. You can feel the strength of their relationship. Clyde R. Jones is very strong as the handsome lathe operator who descends on Dessa like a fairy-tale Prince Charming.

“Miss Dessa,” Crossroads Little Theatre, 4310 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Jan. 26. $20; (213) 291-7321. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.

‘Ninon’: Profile of a 17th-Century Feminist

“Lust is for the stupid,” says Ninon de Lenclos. “Love is an art.” She knows what she’s talking about, as she explains her life and times in “Ninon: A Composed Life,” a one-woman performance at the Oddity Theatre.

Ninon was a courtesan in the grand age of courtesans, the 17th Century. She was protected by soldiers and aristocrats, was a confidante of Moliere, conducted a popular salon for the fashionable of the day, and later in life taught the arts of life and love to young noblemen.

Ninon also formed what may have been the world’s first feminist organization, dedicated to freeing women from the cruel shackles of unproductive married life.

Actress Jessica Toren Arambasin, who portrays Ninon, looks right at home in the role. Though her French accent could use a dialect coach, she captures the aura of the period. Following her own script (culled from Arambasin’s master’s thesis on the subject) she exudes the charm and intelligence that must have been the hallmark of Ninon’s success, a woman more liberated than her profession might seem to her modern sisters.

Dan Kelpine’s staging is simple and appropriate, but he and Arambasin should reconsider the use of a male audience member brought on stage to play a typical “wife,” and questions from the back of the house at the end, as though a better ending had eluded them.

“Ninon: A Composed Life,” Oddity Theatre, 5074 W. Pico Blvd. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Indefinitely. $10; (213) 931-7002. Running time: 1 hour.

‘MM’ Takes Bad Aim at Political Targets

The program for “MM,” at St. Genesius Theatre, is in the form of a newspaper, in which it’s claimed that, although this play has been banned, the company will present it anyway.

Written by Robert Rose (story by Rose and director Mitch Beer), it also claims that this is a black comedy. We are in the year 2000. The Rev. Wilson Smith has become President of “The New United States,” and has banned everything , and offenders are incarcerated in the Jesse Helms Correctional Facility. Got it?

That information might be lost in the avalanche of politically current themes Rose throws into his play. Censorship is only slightly more dangerous to art than overkill. Ecology, abortion, McCarthy-era blackballing, Satanism, religion, AIDS, the CIA and FBI are just a few of the targets missed by the bad aim of this sophomoric piece.

Even dismissing dumb dialogue and a carnival of borrowed styles and pilfered characters, Rose’s main message is “Free Yourself/Free the Planet.” The only performance of note is Tom Burrus as a banned satanic rocker, a hero who later assassinates three Presidents. Free the audience.

“MM,” St. Genesius Theatre, 1049 N. Havenhurst, West Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m. Ends Feb. 2. $15; (213) 851-9558. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

‘Ladies From the Block’: Unpolished Readings

“Ladies From the Block,” at the Burbage Theatre, is billed as “three New Yorkers in L.A. talking turkey at their kitchen table.” What it is is three writer-actresses, directed by Susan Merson, sitting one after the other at a music stand reading monologues.

In “The Karen Klein Story,” Laurie Graff reads a hackneyed story about a Jewish princess recovering from an affair. It’s been done before. Jamie Callan’s “A Day in the Life of a Psychic” is a silly folly about a goofy psychic’s search for a serial killer, when she should be in search of coherence.

Vicki Juditz’s “Flying to the Moon from Ozone Park” is real and original. She describes a purposely single woman’s friendship with a Chinese woman who is trapped in an arranged marriage, struggling for a life of her own. Juditz has even memorized her monologue, which allows her to concentrate on performing it, which she does with charm and intelligence.

“Ladies from the Block,” Burbage Theatre, 2330 Sawtelle Blvd., West Los Angeles. Fridays-Saturdays, 9:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. through Jan. 26. Beginning Feb. 2, Sundays, 4 p.m. Ends March 1. $10-$12; (310) 478-0897. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.