THEATER REVIEW : The Imaginary Opens Doors in Evening of One-Acts

What is this? A show at Teatro Cometa, home of the only ongoing grass-roots Latino theater company in the county, and nary a Hispanic surname in the program?

Es verdad. But while the opaquely titled “An Evening of One-Acts” may be at Teatro Cometa, it is not by Teatro Cometa. That group may be no more, and so, filling the void, Revolving Door Productions has stepped in.

Revolving Door, indeed. While Cometa’s Chicanismo was a welcome injection into the generally white theatrical bloodstream, it proved as ungainly as the theater’s boxy, backbreaking bleacher seating.

The seating remains, and the young company is taking stumbling baby steps. But this is more than just a group of friends getting together to do a show, which is the impression Cometa left you with.

There’s also a method behind the seemingly mad conjunction here of Kitty Johnson’s oft-revived Kentucky romance, “Strawberry Envy,” Michael Zittel’s alienation comedy, “Man and His Ego,” and Joel Beers’ absurd Alaskan adventure, “Cry Wolf.”

While the trio is intrinsically theatrical, it is also joined by a notion of the imagined made flesh on the stage, or at least the imagined dominating what seems to be real.

It’s nice surprise, since we count on a through-line from a play, but not necessarily from an evening of them. Whether the plays work is another matter.

Johnson’s 10-year-old “Envy” first appeared at L.A. Actors Theatre with Laurie O’Brien as Emily, a woman swooning for a slow-on-the-draw strawberry vendor while pulled in another direction by her imaginary lover in an ice cream suit.

O’Brien’s effortless charm is what kept the piece buoyant, and what subsequent stagings have lacked. Here, Lynnae Hitchcock brings a little charm and a touch of eros to this fantasy-reality dalliance, but it’s not enough.

Steven Lamprinos delivers a modest hick, and Devon May talks big as the imagined lover under Joel Beers’ direction, but any magic is severely hampered by austere staging, guitarist Pat Gallagher’s sloppy opener (“Strawberry Fields,” of course) and the space’s black walls.

Those walls aren’t what you want for a Kentucky countryside, but they’re just fine for the cooped-up bachelor apartment setting of “Man and His Ego.”

Once again, one character (Chris Dalu’s Man) imagines another (Chris Egger’s Ego); or rather, a part of the interior self makes a stand, on stage.

Dalu’s guy regrets that he seems to be blowing it with a woman he likes but isn’t sure he wants to pursue. Ego, with bulging pecs and slicked hair, is wary of any commitments and tells his Man in no uncertain terms to stay independent and stick with quick sex.

Ego, it seems, has never heard of AIDS, which may be part of Zittel’s subliminal message. But such a crude arrangement for dramatic conflict has to be sustained by more surprises, more wit and more nerve than Zittel and director Bradley A. Whitfield manage.

Before it ends far too abruptly, Beers’ “Cry Wolf” seems like it might be the best-of-show.

The imagined beings here are wolves, a pack of them supposedly roaming the Alaskan bush near an expedition group. The group itself is a total culture clash, including: eco-sensitive Jesse (Jeff Vandenburgh), a National Geographic magazine writer and his photographer partner, Sarah (Shannon McDuff) and the guides-hunters, led by steely-eyed Rice (Nick Boicourt Jr., who also directs), trigger-happy Carney (an over-the-top Whitfield), the creepy Elsa (a funny Jennifer Bishton) and fellows named Mr. Smith (Lamprinos) and Mr. Jones (Beers).

Jesse is shocked at Rice’s, Carney’s and Elsa’s casual bloodthirstiness, but a reference to James Dickey’s “Deliverance” sets us up for a similar situation where urban man gets in touch with his killer instincts.

* “An Evening of One-Acts,” Teatro Cometa, 116 1/2 W. Wilshire Ave., Fullerton. Friday-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5. (714) 525-3403. 1 hour, 30 minutes.

A Revolving Door production of one-act plays by Kitty Johnson, Michael Zittel and Joel Beers. Directed by Beers, Whitfield and Boicourt Jr. With Joel Beers, Jennifer Bishton, Nick Boicourt Jr., Chris Dalu, Chris Egger, Lynnae Hitchcock, Steven Lamprinos, Devon May, Shannon McDuff, Jeff Vandenburgh and Bradley A. Whitfield. Lights: Peter Samuels and Noah Shultz. Sound: Ted Boicourt.