THEATER REVIEW : ‘Calamity Jane’ Takes a Feminist Look at History : An experimental work about one of the frontier’s most-storied figures makes its West Coast premiere in Santa Paula.

Some of the more interesting local productions these days are being supplied by the Santa Paula Theater Center as part of its “backstage” series.

It’s currently presenting “Calamity Jane,” the West Coast premiere of a play by Ojai author Katherine Ann Jones, in a space behind the main stage area and directed by Taylor Kasch.

The play is a respectable piece of feminist Western history, an apt corollary to the Santa Paula group’s recent “Quilters.”

How “experimental” is this production? Enough so that the playwright is already saying her vision is not evident on the Santa Paula stage.

Based on the author’s research through--she admits--conflicting historical documents, the play relates the celebrated frontiers woman’s colorful life, including liaisons with Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody.

The narration is done, in part, by Jane (Jody Kasch) and in part by her daughter, Janey (Sabrina Jean Garcia).

The third member of the cast, Jeff G. Rack, plays several male roles, and this production is accompanied throughout by projected videos.

A single mother and former actress herself, Jones said she was looking for a strong female role when she discovered a book about Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary and found much to identify with in the character.

Jones added that she was “particularly down on men” at the time, though those in this play do relatively well by the heroine.

When Jane meets Captain O’Neill, she agrees to release baby Janey to the Virginia gentleman and his wife, who are unable to have children of their own.

Some years later, Jane meets her daughter, keeping the secret. It’s only as an adult that Janey seeks out further information on the woman who turns out to be her birth mother.

This is the part that is wholly made up: Though the real Calamity Jane is said to have boasted of a daughter by Hickok, the fate of the daughter, if she ever existed, is unknown.

Jones, the playwright, took pains after opening night to at least partially disassociate herself from the project, noting that “certain liberties had been taken” with the script.

Evidently, she’s referring to the elaborately filmed back projections.

Those in black and white comment on and supplement the onstage action.

Occasionally, the palette shifts to color, and the focus diffuses.

That, director Kasch explains, is to show the distortion of Western legend.

The playwright’s disclaimer notwithstanding, there’s much to like about this “Calamity Jane,” not the least of which is a fine display of acting by Rack.

If the program didn’t indicate he was playing all of those parts, many members of the audience might be fooled.

Jody Kasch cuts a strong swath as hard-drinking Jane, who could probably teach mule skinners a thing or two about cursing, and Garcia makes a sweet Janey.

One should also note that Jones is not a stranger to adaptation: A musical version of this play is currently being produced in New Jersey, and there’s evidently talk of turning it into an opera.

Details

* WHAT: “Calamity Jane”

* WHEN: Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 7:30 p.m., through Oct. 2.

* WHERE: Santa Paula Theater Center, 125 S. 7th St., Santa Paula

* COST: Adults, $7.50; seniors and students, $5.

* FYI: Due mainly to some salty language, this play is recommended for mature audiences only. For reservations or further information, call 525-4645