Edgy ‘skin, bones’ at Theatre of NOTE

In Cheryl Slean’s “skin and bones,” an edgy new full-length drama that marks the return of the New One-Act Theatre Ensemble from its earthquake-induced hiatus, the trendy popularity of body art becomes a central metaphor for a generation trying to slough off the psychic residue of the “do your own thing” ethic.

For Sue (Raige Pierson), Slean’s feisty, bedraggled heroine-waif, tattoos represent the stability and permanence that have become casualties of self-indulgence without values.

Sue’s seedy Hollywood milieu is populated by an ensemble of depraved cranks (Richard Werner, Diane Robinson, Michael Shamus Wiles, Mathew Blair and, most notably, Denise Poirier and Tim Hanson). After realizing her life’s a mess, Sue’s determination to fix it translates into a high-volume odyssey in search of her origins, only to find the rats have eaten all her records.

Slean stages her work as something of a cross between theater and epileptic seizure, with liberal helpings of Angst -ridden wailing and surreal interior monologues. Erratic, but enough lucid moments pierce the haze to sustain interest.

* “skin and bones,” Theatre of NOTE, 1517 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 25. $10-$12. (213) 856-8611. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.