‘Child’ a Vital Melding of Cultures

“For Every Child . . . ,” at the Burbage Theatre, might very well become a watermark for Los Angeles theater, and not just because it’s the first dramatization of Jimmy Santiago Baca’s extraordinary verse. This collaborative adaptation by Armando Jose Duran, Joanne Gordon and Robert Villanueva marks a creative marriage of Chicano and Anglo sensibilities--a potently apt event in the wake of the city’s recent unrest.

The key word, though, is collaborative : Just as the trio have molded and emboldened Baca’s poems of personal decline and uplift, so the ensemble of seven actors make them richly musical, painful, exultant. “Group theater” is a nice idea to which a lot of people pay lip service; “For Every Child . . . “ is group theater in action.

Three qualities make Baca’s poetry stageworthy: It is usually direct, both in address and to the listener’s head; it often tackles the ferocious dilemmas of Baca’s life but with some narrative distance; it achieves the singing tradition of both corridos and Walt Whitman, making for street soliloquies of Shakespearean power. Baca can facilely blend topical issues, sadness and metaphor in a few words, as in this lament near the beginning of the play: “For every child abused, a star is extinguished.”

But the play is about how a Chicano Everyman fights being snuffed out, which includes gaining necessary muscle in prison. Baca’s is the generation that emerged during the Chicano Moratorium of 1970, youth blending ‘60s activism with a cultural eye to Aztlan and away from Catholic Rome (Ahmed Ali Morshedi’s ever-present wall mural of the Crucifixion becomes a ghost that never quite recedes). The interplay of the Everyman’s struggle for self-respect and the inner and outer forces playing on him is precisely what lends “For Every Child . . . “ its palpable, communicative power.

As for Everywoman, well, she’s definitely in the background, especially in some of the marvelous, depth-of-field stage pictures created in the small Burbage space. While Elizabeth Taheri and Anne Betancourt are hardly heard from, Duran, Villanueva, Christopher Barrios and Anthony Roman breathe fire as the Chicano soul split four ways, with Joseph Matthews as the menacing Anglo always in the shadows. Director Gordon’s stagings have always pushed the envelope; this time, with several colleagues out of Cal State Long Beach’s theater program, she has actors with the heft to push things further.

“For Every Child ... ,” Burbage Theatre, 2330 Sawtelle Blvd., West Los Angeles . Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.; Fridays, 7:30 p.m. Ends July 10. $15; (310) 478-0897. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Shakespeare Goes Musical in ‘Dreamers’

Tony Tanner, the hyperactive mind behind West Coast Ensemble’s current Shakespeare festival, is not only responsible for “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet,” but for a new musical version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” titled “Dreamers.” Where “Romeo and Juliet” gave the impression that Tanner was too busy to show up for rehearsals, “Dreamers” seems to have Tanner’s attention.

This is Shakespeare Made Easier Than Easy, in which “Midsummer’s” Athens has inexplicably become a paramilitary camp and Titania and Oberon’s realm is a hip nightclub (in a forest?). The settings and garb continue the confusion of “Romeo’s” Civil War motif, but at least here there are natural conditions for musical comedy.

The show is even more natural for children’s musical comedy, considering Tanner’s very simple, single-line melodies. He’d have to remove the expletives, of course--hold on, expletives ? This pseudo-updating compresses the original and splices in equal amounts of banal contemporary talk (Puck: “If we shadows have offended. . . . Tough!”), which is a sure way to take the magic out of the forest.

In what may be the only version of “Midsummer” where the “Pyramus and Thisby” play-within-the-play is more winning than the comedy around it, the motley crew of Lee Wessof’s hilarious Bottom and Carlease Burke’s put-upon Mistress Quince do a clinic in musical comedy. Michelle Mikesell’s Helena sings her lungs out, and Marjorie Bowman’s Hermia is bullishly funny, but many in “Dreamers” need a wake-up call.

“Dreamers,” West Coast Ensemble, 6240 Hollywood Blvd. June 27, 8 p.m.; June 28, 2 p.m.; July 2-3, 16-18, 8 p.m.; July 19, 2 p.m. $12-$15; (213) 788-5900. Running time: 2 hours.

‘One West Wacker’ Shows Its TV Influence

For all we know, Wil Calhoun might have only the purest theater intentions in mind for his dramedy, “One West Wacker,” at Company of Angels. But the whiff of wanna-be TV pilot--a kind of corporate “L.A. Law”--hangs over this show, and it never goes away.

The action, framed by opening and closing scenes in the lobby of the One West Wacker office building in Chicago, covers one day in the life of a company run by Scott (Tony Maggio), hounded by a nasty takeover bid. Along with Scott, there are debating accountants (Scott N. Stevens and Howard S. Miller), haggling maintenance guys (Tom Lent, Christian Svensson and Ken Zavayna), warring secretaries (Debra Sullivan and Beege Barkett), two unlikely brothers (a very funny Bruno Marcotulli as both) and a by-the-rules office guard (a dryly droll Don Oscar Smith)--and so on, in a universe of office types.

It’s a universe, though, that feels pent-up and small since “One West Wacker” is always stopping and starting in a series of (usually) two-character scenes. Without episodic TV’s ability to cut around from locale to locale and make quick comic connections, Calhoun’s script is top-heavy with aimless chatting, despite director A. C. Weary’s efforts to curb the inertia.

“One West Wacker,” Company of Angels, 2106 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake . Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 1. $10-$12; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.

‘Ronna Show’ Not Yet Ready for Prime Time

How to describe what follows “One West Wacker” at Company of Angels on Saturday nights? Writer-performer Ronna Alyse Dragon’s “The Ronna Show” wants to, modestly and without fanfare, put across a small collection of tunes broken up by personal commentary, with Carole King and Joni Mitchell as musical muses.

Dragon’s self-portrait, though, just isn’t ready for public viewing. This is the kind of nervous performance, directed by Clifford Bell, that makes you feel nervous for the performer. While Dragon admirably challenges herself (and guitarist Keenan Knight and keyboardist Jon Ernst) with some tricky rhythm and key changes, she can’t handle them. Her opening act, Duane & Lorenz, seem to be able to handle anything in an ultra-campy duo of voice and saw. Yes, saw.

“The Ronna Show,” Company of Angels, 2106 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake. Saturdays, 10:45 p.m. Ends July 25. $10; (818) 377-4379. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

‘Exeunt’ a Single Joke That Runs Out of Steam

For ultra-ultra-camp Gary Ellenberg’s “Exeunt, a Play With Actors,” at Al’s Bar, is in its own dubious class. Ellenberg’s one joke--that a marriage of actors, like inbreeding, is sure to produce a family of kooks--is played out long before director Sean Fenton’s cast stop their hooting, hollering and braying. Sons in drag and randy moms are as old as Joe Orton, but the weirdest thing here is it’s seen as daring.

“Exeunt, A Play With Actors,” Al’s Bar, 305 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 15. $8; (310) 289-4385. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.