Sewing for AIDS Quilt ‘In Stitches’

Seldom has a putative comedy brought together so many melodramatic cliches as Brian Christopher Williams’ “In Stitches” at the Hollywood Court Theatre. An amateurish ditty about a quilting bee for the AIDS quilt even makes its cast look shoddy. And that’s no mean feat, given that several of these actors have been known to turn in staunch work on other L.A. stages.

Johnelle (Lorey Hayes) runs the bee in the basement of a house whose occupant is a grouchy older woman (Sandra Kinder) who actually has lines like “I ain’t afraid of you, Missy.” The group’s participants include a flighty young mother named Mona (Jeanie Hackett) and a husband and wife who’ve lost their son. When the dead son’s mate, Max, shows up, things get snarly.

Due to an actor’s illness on press night, playwright Williams went on in the role of Max and did a passable job, considering. But apropos of his play, someone should advise him, as Johnelle says to Mona, that “There’s nothing as hard as letting go.” After all, “Grievin’ is hard work.”

* “In Stitches,” Hollywood Court Theatre at the Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 13. $15. (213) 660-TKTS. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.