Predictable Morality Tale : * ‘Freak of Nature,’ about a model’s rise to superstardom, fails to let the audience make its own connections.

Jo-Jo’s a dog’s name, modeling agent Tamara declares in Ken Hanes’ play “Freak of Nature” at the Road Theatre Company. So what does Tamara rename her new modeling discovery? “Adam.”

The underlying joke that runs through the rest of Hanes’ caustic morality fable is that “Adam,” the model (Ken Sawyer), is actually the dog on the leash held by Tamara (Maria Spassoff), while Jo-Jo is the free innocent. This is a golden leash, though, as Adam vaults into superstardom.

In Hanes’ concept, it’s a distinctly bitter superstardom, and the notion of a purely nice guy shot into a world of slime and money resembles nothing so much as Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe” with Gary Cooper. Sawyer’s Jo-Jo, in fact, is very Cooper-like: ultra-laconic, studly, nearly blank, full of a likability bound to attract sharks.

Unfortunately, Hanes’ concept goes beyond this--way beyond. His fable begins in heaven, where Jo-Jo is instructed by God on life’s purpose, which is to destroy other people. You get the idea that Hanes is not fond of God.

So, if Jo-Jo has made some kind of Faustian deal with the Almighty, then Tamara makes a Svengali deal with Jo-Jo: She’ll take him far, but he has to follow orders, down to how much and whom to talk to at parties.

But the concept syndrome keeps getting in the way. Alternating scenes of “fantasy” and “reality” (incredibly, identified as such on hard-to-spot, side-wall slide projections next to the stage) are meant to play off each other, and show us the anger building in our nice-guy hero. But they only add a plodding, schematic sensibility to an already predictable tale of fallen virtue.

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Underneath both Hanes’ play and Che’Rae Adams’ staging is a fatal lack of trust in the audience to make its own connections. We are always way in front of the play’s action, knowing all too well, for instance, that “Adam” will be caught in a tabloid scandal because Hanes telegraphs the danger so early.

-At this stage in its development, “Freak of Nature” is caught somewhere between the symbolic and the satiric, between profundity and simplicity. Like Jo-Jo, the play appears to want to tell its story with directness; like “Adam,” it also appears to want it all, from romance to business drama to smart-ass comedy to a struggle between God and the devil. But without unexpected ideas to ponder or vital language to carry us along, “Freak” gets crushed under so many incompatible and competing forces.

It would help, of course, if Adams’ cast maneuvered the peaks and valleys here. Instead, this is an uneven team, led by Sawyer’s quietly boiling Jo-Jo and Spassoff’s nicely acidic Tamara. Barbara Lindsay never convinces as a fashion industry hot-shot, nor does Elizabeth Tobias as the hot-shot’s good teen-age daughter who aches for Jo-Jo’s love. Carl Johnson’s obviously gay photographer lacks the kind of competitive edge his character would have, but Jeff Corbett (as a personal trainer) and LaTonya Welsch (as a deformed nurse) know their professions well.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Freak of Nature.”

Location: Road Theatre Company, 14141 Covello St., Unit 9-D, Van Nuys.

Hours: 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Closes March 27.

Cost: $12.50.

Call: (818) 785-6175.