STAGE REVIEW : Love Conquers All--Once Again--in ‘Light Sensitive’ : Despite a cliched theme, playwright Jim Geoghan, aided by a stellar director and cast, brings his characters to life and the audience to its feet.

In the West Coast premiere of “Light Sensitive” at the Old Globe Theatre here, two lost souls meet in Hell’s Kitchen: a blind, embittered ex-cabbie named Tom and a young, disabled woman named Edna sent by a society for the blind to read to him.

Surprise: they fall in love.

And because the writing of television veteran Jim Geoghan is funny with a sitcom smoothness, complications that may have loomed large in real life turn out fine in the end.

What’s odd is that the issue Geoghan makes the most of in this three-character play is how Tom will react when he learns that Edna is mildly disabled and not exactly gorgeous. What Geoghan glosses over is that Edna doesn’t seem at all perturbed that she is falling in love with a man who has no job, who drinks at their every encounter and whose father died an abusive drunk. Does this woman have a problem with self-esteem, or what?

Still, “Light Sensitive” is a little like the early work of Neil Simon. Geoghan, whose only other play, “Only Kidding,” was a recent Off Broadway success, is a Los Angeles-based Bronx native who has had experience reading to the blind. He knows his characters and his audience. With a few deft strokes, Edna, Tom and Tom’s macho buddy, Lou, come to life, and by the end of the play, the audience is on its feet cheering.

But like the early Simon, Geoghan directs his cleverness at getting laughs--which he reaps in by the bushel--rather than at providing insights. The basic theme is that love changes everything overnight, and beauty is only skin deep.

An excellent cast--each actor making an Old Globe debut--and the high quality of the production at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, ably directed by Andrew J. Traister, mine the play’s potential. Still, Traister could have done better at getting some key moments to play to all of the audience in this intimate theater in the round.

Joel Anderson as Tom Hanratty and Matt Landers as Lou D’Marco etch compelling characterizations with crackerjack timing, but it is Victoria Ann-Lewis, the disabled actress who plays Edna, who drives the action. The playwright owes her a reason for falling in love with Tom; denied that, she deserves all the more credit for bringing a gritty toughness, vulnerability and humor to her role that make one care about the cliched outcome.

Nick Reid’s set, nicely lit by Barth Ballard, captures the grime and the filth of Tom’s apartment before Edna arrives, and establishes a homey if humble cheer after she makes her impact. Clare Henkel’s costumes are understated but effective. Jeff Ladman’s sound design suggests the New York jungle outside.

The only other production of “Light Sensitive” closed Jan. 1 under the title of “Triple Exposure” at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago. The playwright has expressed hope that there will be a future for “Light Sensitive”--and if there is one, the Globe may share in it. Whether or not that occurs, Geoghan no doubt will have a future as a playwright--if he allows himself to grow beyond the easy laughs.

“Light Sensitive,” Cassius Carter Centre Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays 7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $22-$32; (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 17 minutes.