THEATER REVIEW / ‘AT THE RAINBOW BAR & GRILLE’ : Food for Thought : Roadside restaurant after atomic bombs explode is the setting for a play that offers some sugarcoated theology.

As atomic bombs explode across the face of the Earth, one of the few places still standing is a roadside restaurant in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico. So close is the apocalypse that the one remaining TV station is playing nothing but endless reruns of “I Love Lucy.”

Such is the set-up of Bruce Graham’s “Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille,” the current production of Ventura’s Plaza Players.

More comic than not, the play follows several of the restaurant’s regular customers and a few passers-by among them. There is a militant survivalist, an alcoholic barmaid and a flashily dressed aluminum siding salesman.

Such situations are time-honored dramatic devices--the Plaza Players used a cafe setting as recently as last year with “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” and in 1990 the group staged an experimental production involving a nuclear holocaust.

But when God himself shows up at the end of this play’s first act, we realize that those Rainbow Bar & Grille customers aren’t just easy stereotypes.

Well, they are, too, easy stereotypes. But Graham has something grander in mind: The Rainbow retinue is a microcosm of the human race, and we’re involved in a dose of sugarcoated theology.

Frankly, the play is more enjoyable when at its least preachy. It is a great relief to see the Deity--taking a cue from the “Oh! God” movies--holding earthly matters a lot less seriously than most of the customers do. (When he punches up a Fats Domino record on the jukebox, it is a sign that heaven may be all it’s reputed to be).

The one person who seems not to be concerned about life in general is bartender and aspiring novelist Shep, who cares only about the manuscript he’s just had accepted by a New York publisher. Its potential audience is, of course, dwindling by the second. But God has something special in mind for ol’ Shep.

Alan Price, a familiar face from several recent Plaza Players productions, plays Shep with a smooth eagerness to please; he’s one of the Ventura group’s most consistently likable performers. Irv Citron plays Roy, a nervous mechanic; John Larsen is survivalist and Boy Scout leader Willy (who has trouble accepting God at face value); Braden McKinley is the flashily dressed salesman, and John Masterson is the jovial God.

Michelle Kinder is amusing as the aggressive barmaid Shirley, and Jaye Hersh plays physical education teacher Virginia with authority and wit.

James Leslie designed the functional set, Michael Naughton is credited with the lights, and “the cast” takes responsibility for the costumes--though if that electric blue suit with a yellow shirt, hat and shoes is in Braden McKinley’s real-life closet, the man deserves close observation by the Fashion Police.

First-time director Kathleen Hobson handles the ensemble well; it will be interesting to see what she chooses next.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille” continues Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 through June 6 at the Plaza Players Theater, 34 N. Palm St. in Ventura. Admission is $7 on Wednesdays, $9 on Fridays and $10 on Saturdays. For reservations or further information, call 643-9460.