Moher Is Working Things Out : Stage: His ‘Odd Jobs’--which opens Friday at SCR--is more about relationships than making a living.

Frank Moher understands the media need to make things topical. The Canadian playwright is as patient as can be when asked to put his drama, “Odd Jobs,” in perspective, especially during these rough economic times.

Yes, he says, it’s about unemployment. Sort of. And yes, it touches on the impact that losing a job, or being in a job you hate, can have on someone. And sure, he thinks anyone who comes to South Coast Repertory (where “Odd Jobs” opens Friday night and continues through Dec. 6) with thoughts of California’s 9%-plus unemployment rate hovering in their heads will find some resonance.

“This is about work and how important it is in people’s lives,” Moher, 37, said by phone recently from his home on Gabriola Island, off the coast of British Columbia.

“It’s about how they come to define themselves (through work) and how hazardous it can be if they find themselves without a job. In that respect, it probably reflects (how many people) are feeling these days.”

But Moher is eager to point out that “Odd Jobs” is interested in relationships, especially those forged during crisis.

Of the play’s three characters, Tim is probably the most accessible to anyone who has become one of those dismal statistics on the jobless. After losing his assembly-line job because of new technology, he’s forced to go door-to-door in search of odd jobs.

That’s when he meets Mrs. Phipps, a brilliant former math and science professor who’s now “in the winter of her life” and not coping well. Tim starts working around her house, and they develop a deep bond when she begins to tutor him in math.

Tim’s wife, Ginette, likes Mrs. Phipps but thinks he should find a better job. She’s stuck in a crummy one on the complaint desk of a department store. “Odd Jobs” reaches a quiet tension when Ginette receives a good offer in another part of the country, and Tim must deal with leaving Mrs. Phipps.

“I really wanted to get into something rich and profound,” Moher said. “All three characters have been pushed to the edge of society, especially (Tim and Mrs. Phipps) who are really on the periphery.

“I wanted to look at the connections they form socially, what their needs are and what they find through each other.”

Perhaps more than anything else, the drama is about “community,” according to John Glore, SCR’s literary manager, who described “Odd Jobs” in the show’s program this way:

“The conflict pits three uncertain human beings against the prevailing wind of modern times: it’s their struggle to regain the strength of community, to learn each other’s stories, to fulfill each other’s needs, even as they continue to feel the modern world’s fragmenting influence.”

The play, which has been produced on the East Coast but is making its West Coast debut at SCR, was the result of a commission by Theatre Network and Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton in 1985. The idea was originally to write something about the workplace, especially how technology was changing jobs in Canada.

Moher took the basic premise and injected his personal experiences. While Tim is like many people who have lost their jobs to advancing technology, Mrs. Phipps is based on a landlady of Moher’s, a former math professor he admired.

“She was a very special woman who had a bright academic life,” Moher said, “but ageism pushed her to the fringes. That was one of the ideas I wanted to look at.”

As for the success of the play, both here and in Canada (Moher said it has had dozens of stagings since 1985), Moher acknowledges that it is, in part, due to the bleak global economy. Canada is having its own woes, and he is fully aware of the recession in the United States.

“The play definitely seems to be hitting a nerve,” he said. “I think it relates to the fact that it is a crucial issue, that work is being pulled out from under people right and left, and that many have to find a new way to make a living.

“Hopefully, it moves from there, into love and human responsibility. The thing that is most pleasing is that it seems to speak to people from all walks of life . . . people who have jobs, people who don’t.”

As for his own job, Moher has been writing plays since the ‘70s. In fact, he’s one of Canada’s more respected playwrights. Besides “Odd Jobs,” Moher’s other works include “Sliding for Home” (first produced in 1987), “Prairie Report” (1988) and “Farewell” (1991).

Moher’s family was literary-minded, especially his father, a longtime sportswriter for the Edmonton Journal. While not the athletic type, Moher did like words, and when he was introduced to the theater in 1967, he realized what he wanted to do.

“I was in the chorus in a community-theater production of a musical called ‘Jackpot,’ kind of a ‘Oklahoma!’-comes-to-Alberta show,” Moher recalled. “I developed a passion for the theater, and with the strains of writing that were all around me at home, I came up with being a playwright.”

* Frank Moher’s “Odd Jobs” previews tonight and the regular run opens Friday at South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Performances Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. through Dec. 6. $23 to $32. (714) 957-4033.