Intense ‘Stumps’ Crackles at Odyssey

If evil could take human form today, it would probably look a lot like Calvin Rhodes, the ex-priest turned pornographer who taunts two disabled Vietnam vets with their own grandiose aspirations in the West Coast premiere of Mark Medoff’s intense psychological drama “Stumps.”

Armed with sociopathic cunning and an unerring instinct for exploitable weakness, “Pastor” Rhodes (Gregg Henry, in a searing portrayal) brings a little bit of hell on Earth to Stephen (Joseph Adams), the one-handed proprietor of a small-town X-rated movie house, and his wheelchair-bound partner Jerry (Joe Maruzzo).

The two believe Jerry’s arty erotic screenplay is their ticket to the good life, despite the moralistic cautions of Stephen’s wife, Lin (Patty Toy), a troubled Vietnamese refugee.

Enter Rhodes, a successful adult film producer, with his abused porn star girlfriend (Alix Koromzay) in tow, promising the wanna-be film moguls a life of “diverse gluttony” if they’ll let him make the movie his way--stripped of its lofty artistic ambitions.

Gratification at the expense of values becomes the bait in this compelling work (set, appropriately enough, in the inaugural dawn of the Reagan era).

Starting out at a polite, almost leisurely pace, Allan Miller’s assured direction draws the coils of Rhodes’ stranglehold tauter and tauter around the seamless Odyssey Theatre Ensemble cast. A few implausible logistics used to engineer some private conversations are the only quibbles in a script that crackles with high-stakes confrontation.

* “Stumps,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., except for Sundays Aug. 21 and Sept. 4, 2 p.m. $17.50-$21.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.