THEATER BEAT : Lesbian Western at Celebration

If you’re wondering what a lesbian Western might look like, mosey on down to Mary Casey and Pamela Gray’s “Healin’ Dirt Diner” at the Celebration Theatre.

There’s the snarly Sage (ravenously played by director Betsy Burke) stomping her boots on the barroom floor. She’s fussin’ because her self-serving lover Jacey (Caitlin Stansbury’s country-Western thrush) has dumped her for a mooney visitor from the straight world--the wide-eyed Wanda (Michelle Holmes) who gradually succumbs to that rush to the temples whenever Jacey touches her hand, which is often.

Clinch! The two women sway back their shoulders, kiss that long kiss, then break into a song. The jilted Sage, thank you, rebounds into accompanying tight embraces and lingering smooches with late arrival Jewel (TaRon Patton’s brash African-American cowgirl looking sharp in a Stetson).

You want country fever songs and palpitating hearts? These gals (on a spiffy saloon designed by Claudene Anderson and Andrew Rosen) belt it out with honky-tonk original music by June Vertucci, arranged by David Coleman.

* “Healin’ Dirt Diner,” Celebration Theatre, 7051 Santa Monica Blvd., Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends April 4. $15. (213) 957-1884. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.