Talk Theater for Dinner

For a year and a half, Masquer’s Cafe has been quietly reinventing the concept of dinner theater. The diverse offerings include performances of Shakespeare’s sonnets, one-act plays and even a one-woman show by Kay Elizabeth, whose work, according to the flyer, “thrives on her multiple personality disorder, mood swings and resistance to reality.”

There is no booze and no cigarette smoke in this warm, rose-colored room--just Moroccan food, cappuccino and a small, well-lit stage. “We don’t have a beer and wine license yet,” says owner Harris Smith, “but we finally have our theater lighting. That was the equivalent of buying a small car.”

These unusual priorities make Masquer’s one of the more substantive offerings in the trend toward night spots combining food and entertainment.

Every Tuesday night, Masquer’s is home to Dr. Stella Resnick’s Talk Theatre, billed as “An Audience-Participation Talk Show in a Cabaret.” Resnick, a Gestalt therapist in private practice, is a smarter and sexier version of Phil Donahue. The theme for January is “Let’s Talk About Sex,” and this week’s focus is “Sex Without Sex: the New Eroticism.”

Resnick sets the tone by talking about her own sexuality in a way that is intelligent and intimate. She isn’t afraid to purr and sigh as she introduces her topic, and confesses that she occasionally has phone sex with her husband. “We’re not that experimental with our sexuality because we’re all aiming at the main event. Well, we’re going to put intercourse on hold for a while,” she suggests. “I’ll bet you did this as a teen-ager, and I’ll bet you got really hot! Talk to me. What do you think?”

Resnick passes the mike around the audience. The first comment is from a woman who recounts a recent experience of sitting on the couch and kissing, admitting that it was very erotic. “I hadn’t done this since I was 16, and I’m 55 now.”

She passes the mike to a man named Jeff, who talks about having phone sex with a poet in Texas. Resnick mentions that this kind of sex is equally accessible to the disabled.

Resnick asks a woman named Janet to define intimacy. “That’s a hard question,” Janet says. “I equate intimacy with feeling connected to someone. I’d like to not feel that way. I don’t know that it’s necessarily accurate, it’s just what I’ve been taught.”

A woman named Nikki sums up the man/woman problem. “If someone separates sex and love, and then they say they love you, where does that leave you?”

Over the next hour, the conversation ranges from Tantric sex to love. Resnick leads the audience in breathing exercises. The discussion is free of jargon, and the opinions expressed are by and large thoughtful and well-stated, with none of the stridence that marks TV talk shows. For one thing, no one applauds when an audience member makes a popular point. Overall, the evening comes off more like a lively dinner party than an episode of “Oprah.”

After the show, a new wave of guests arrives for a series of one-act plays, a program that is standard fare at Masquer’s.

“We try to get fledgling productions that maybe couldn’t get a foothold elsewhere,” says Smith. “We focus on new material. It’s not that I don’t like great works, I just like new great works.”

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Where: Masquer’s Cafe, 8334 West 3rd St. Reservations: (213) 653-4848.

When: Performances Tuesday through Saturday. Talk Theatre Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. For schedule of Talk Theatre topics call (310) 855-7565.

Cost: Tickets $8. Pizzas and pastas $7-$10. Moroccan entrees $11-13. Cappuccino $2.50. Soft drinks $1.75.