THEATER / MARK CHALON SMITH : Staged Reunion for Laguna Playhouse’s ‘True West’ : Co-stars Peder Melhuse and Andrew Barnicle return to 1983 roles in Sam Shepard’s wild, woolly comedy.

Peder Melhuse and Andrew Barnicle first met in 1983, when they were involved with the long-running production of “True West” at Cherry Lane Theater off-Broadway.

Both actors understudied for a revolving cavalcade of stars including John Malkovich, Jim Belushi and Dennis and Randy Quaid. Eventually, they played key roles themselves in Sam Shepard’s snarling comedy. Exciting days, but when it was time to search out new opportunities, Melhuse and Barnicle soon lost touch.

Until a few months ago. Melhuse, who primarily acts in Los Angeles these days, was skimming through a Laguna Playhouse brochure when he noticed a photo of Barnicle, the theater’s artistic director. Pure serendipity.

“I was just glancing at it and it dawned on me, ‘Hey, I know this guy!’ ” Melhuse recalled. “Then I saw they were doing ‘True West’ and I took it from there.”

Melhuse called Barnicle, who invited him to rehearsals. Melhuse won the part of Lee, the crazy desert-rat brother who comes a-calling on Austin, the more introverted but still crazy screenwriter brother who’s trying to finish a script while holed up in his mother’s tacky suburban home. Barnicle, naturally, plays Austin in the Laguna Playhouse production, which previews tonight and Wednesday. The regular run opens Thursday.

“I’m really happy to be doing this, working with Andy again and getting to do Lee again,” said Melhuse, who replaced Belushi in the role of Lee at the Cherry Lane in late 1983. “It’s great to be back in a Shepard play . . . and I love doing Lee because there’s so much freedom in it.”

Barnicle said he’d been considering staging Shepard in Laguna for some time, but his earlier experiences in New York had little to do with it. Barnicle started in the Cherry Lane show as a lighting engineer, moved up to understudying the Quaid brothers and played Lee opposite Dennis Quaid for a few weeks in 1983.

“I didn’t choose ‘True West’ because I was in an earlier production; I chose it because the play has a profound effect on me,” Barnicle explained. “It’s funny, accessible (and it’s) about the encroachment of civilization on the West (as well as an) exploration of family.”

That “exploration of family” is what impresses Joan McGillis, a veteran director with the playhouse. Although this is the first time McGillis has tackled “True West,” or any other Shepard play for that matter, she’s struck by how vividly it captures the warped dynamic that can develop between siblings.

“I will concede that this is a stretch for me; it’s not something that I usually do,” she said, “but what I (focus on) is how universal the play is. This is a hysterically funny play that talks about a dysfunctional family situation in really clever ways.

“I think an audience, particularly our audience (in Laguna), is not used to seeing this type of family represented. I have to tie into the universality of family” to make the show a success.

Laguna Playhouse patrons, not Orange County’s most conservative but generally a community-theater crowd nonetheless, may be tested by “True West.” Shepard minces neither words (the language is forceful, scatalogical, honest and modern), nor situations.

Lee and Austin, brothers with a lot of rage against life and each other, don’t present an airbrushed picture of sibling rivalry. But it’s the frankness of their relationship, conveyed in typically in-your-face Shepard ways, that makes “True West” both funny and involving, agree McGillis, Barnicle and Melhuse.

They also agree that the rehearsals have been, well, exciting. The scenes in which Austin and Lee really go at each other provided a few helter-skelter moments.

“Things can get pretty out of control,” McGillis said, laughing. ‘I mean, things, props, are flying around when they get into it. Their (Melhuse and Barnicle) chemistry is wonderful (but) it does get wild. Actors don’t like being reined in, but I’m trying to bring some order out of the chaos.”

Barnicle and Melhuse have found the experience liberating, and both are content with the casting.

“I did Austin once and don’t ever want to do it again,” Melhuse said. “Lee is what I like because he allows me to push the envelope, go to the edge. To me, going to the edge is the best place to be in this play.”

As for Barnicle, he has come to accept the fact that Austin is more suited for him. “Sure, every actor wants to play Lee, but I wasn’t sure I was right. I’m a yuppified guy who migrated west, just like Austin. I went to college, I’m educated. I’m really more like Austin.”

Melhuse just had to cut in, “I agree with all that, but I went to college, too. . . . “

Ah, brothers.

* The Laguna Playhouse’s “True West” previews tonight and Wednesday and opens Thursday at the Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.;Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.;and Sunday at 7 p.m. Through Feb. 7. Tickets:$12 for previews, $14 to $19 for the regular run. (714)494-8021.