STAGE REVIEW : Mock Horror in ‘Mimzabim!’

Though it isn’t explicitly related to Halloween, John O’Keefe’s “Mimzabim!” is a rowdy sampling of the holiday spirit for those adults who are looking for a few sharp jolts of mock horror.

A lurid cartoon about a catatonic girl and the doctors who exploit her rare enzyme, only to succumb to the same catatonia, “Mimzabim!” has been aggressively staged by Roxanne Rogers at the New One-Act Theatre Ensemble.

Audience members are admitted to the theater one by one, as if to a doctor’s office, and asked to say “Ahh” as they enter. Eerie music on Mark Wilson’s sound track, Rand Ryan’s ominous lighting and a frantic knocking from under the floor contribute to the mood.

We witness the violent smash-up of the marriage of crazy Nora (Karen Hott) and sailor Jesse (Tim Hanson), see Nora’s suicide in silhouette and then flash forward to the hospitalization of their daughter Sara (Eva Burgess).

That the medical staff here--Drs. Seize (Hanson) and Lucy (Phil Ward) and Nurse Tape (Margo Rose-Thomas)--are angels of malice instead of mercy is no surprise. The shocks in O’Keefe’s script are so exaggerated that they lose much of their shock value.

The play has no sense of gravity, so it’s hard to take it as anything other than a big joke; whether O’Keefe intended something more trenchant is hard to say. Still, it is a vividly executed joke, with an ingeniously hand-crafted set by Devin Meadows, a rack of florid costumes by Kit McCall, blistering fight direction by Robert Goodwin and creepy makeup by Laura Finnegan.

“Mimzabim!,” N.O.T.E., 1705 N. Kenmore Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays,8 and 11 p.m. Ends Nov. 14. $10. (213) 666-5550. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.