THEATER REVIEW : ‘Pizza Man’ Delivers the Laughs as Well as Some Self-Discovery : Comedy focuses on two women’s scheme to make a man their rape victim. It creates discomfort in some viewers, amuses others.

After a series of troubles that can be blamed on the men in their lives, a pair of Los Angeles women decide to take retribution on the entire opposite sex.

Julie’s plan is to find a man, totally innocent of slights to either her or roommate Alice, and rape him as a surrogate for those unappreciative boyfriends, harassing bosses and that neighbor who objects to her playing Melissa Etheridge albums at top volume.

Written by Diane Craviatto, a screenwriter and Santa Barbara resident, this is a comedy. And, taken in the right spirit, “Pizza Man” delivers.

This is the most recent of several UC Santa Barbara productions to be given brief runs at the Plaza Players Theater in Ventura. Producer Doreen Lacy, director Melissa Pierce and all three actors are UCSB theater arts students, and this play--with the same cast--was recently Pierce’s senior directing project at the university.

Julie’s scheme doesn’t turn out as expected. Eddie the Pizza Man is one of the nicest, most happily married guys on Earth, and the women are basically too decent to really follow through. And Craviatto’s very wordy script tacks on a bit of self-discovery to justify goings-on that may create feelings of discomfort in some viewers while amusing others.

It’s entertaining enough when taken as a straight comedy. Attractive performers Meika Cooper (Julie), Rina Mimoun (Alice) and Chris Turner (Eddie) turn in strong, if occasionally somewhat overblown performances. And director Pierce keeps the action moving smoothly, has picked her music with care and wit, and knows when to punch the laugh lines. And there are laughs, whether from Julie’s confession that she was distraught when she found her husband in bed with her best friend--”He (the best friend) was like a brother to me”--or the very physical Act II, where Alice’s clumsy attempt to vamp Eddie is another highlight.

Julie is the better-drawn character, with Alice this play’s equivalent of the wacky neighbor that’s a sitcom cliche. Still, the sight of Mimoun galumphing around the room is something to see.

For many viewers, credibility will be an issue, here as in the recent motion picture “Disclosure”--does a woman taking the sexual initiative on a helpless man constitute “rape,” or simply dilute the notion of sexual assault into pornography or wishful thinking? In “Pizza Man,” it’s two women tying up Eddie instead of Demi Moore pawing Michael Douglas in “Disclosure,” but the principle is the same.

And indeed, Eddie winds up having a much better time than uptight old Michael Douglas--he even calls the boss for permission to linger a while at Julie and Alice’s apartment. You can’t rape a man, Eddie argues, because it’s impossible to have sex with a man unless he cooperates, and if he cooperates, it isn’t rape.

For the other side of the “Pizza Man” scenario, note the very disturbing play “Extremities,” produced by Ventura College in 1992, in which a woman holds captive and tortures a man who has attempted to “rape” her, in the sense of the word that most of us understand. With very slight changes, “Pizza Man” could take on a dangerous edge that’s intentionally absent here.

Details

* WHAT: “Pizza Man”

* WHEN: Friday through Sunday at 8 p.m.

* WHERE: Plaza Players Theater, 34 N. Palm St. (in the Livery Arts Center), Ventura

* HOW MUCH: $10 general admission; $8 students and seniors.

* FYI: Not recommended for children or easily offended adults.

* CALL: For reservations or further information: 643-9460.