THEATER REVIEW : Slick-Free Kicks in ‘Stepping Out’

Richard Harris’ “Stepping Out” is one of those vehicles perfectly suited to a young, spunky theater group that wants to hop on board and take us on a ride somewhere. The ride is amusingly bumpy in director-choreographer Sheryl Donchey’s staging (assisted by Robert G. Leigh) at Rancho Santiago College.

Harris’ play, about tap dancing as an escape from life’s miseries, is at its best in the least “professional” setting. That isn’t to say that Donchey’s band of college hoofers are woefully unprofessional; it’s only that they’re still rough around the edges, very much like Harris’ people. They avoid the worst trap of all with this kind of material--a slick performance of struggling characters.

The mostly working-class women (and one lone man) who attend Mavis’ tap dance class in a North London church hall are trying their damnedest, and so is this cast. We warm up to them, and the very fine D. Silvio Volonte set (which turns the entire theater space into the church hall) hugely helps create the right intimate feeling.

Dramaturgically, Harris’ play is a tad inspired by “A Chorus Line’s” portrayal of flawed individuals finally (and predictably) coming together in the grand finale. But the play is not a musical and is instead wedded to the old British slice-of-life theater going back to the 1950s. The early scenes simply plunk us down in the middle of Mavis’ class, everyone chattering at once, the audience forced to follow along.

Gradually, little dramas begin to develop, then are pushed forward as Mavis (Donchey) announces that the class has been invited to perform at a Royal Albert Hall benefit concert. Just as they must come together as a unit, they begin to tear apart as the little dramas multiply.

Of the eight people in the class, the quietest, and most troubling, is Andy (Melisa Halfmann), whose politics and more sophisticated tastes make her as much an outcast from the group as Vera’s (Sherry Domerego) frilly self-centeredness. Early on, Andy tells Mavis that this class is her only escape. Later, we learn how serious those words are.

Halfmann beautifully masters the tough assignment of making us notice Andy while she’s shyly in the corner, or dressed plainly while everyone else is in their loudest neon tights. But Halfmann’s unspoken expression of pain makes us want to search her out, even when she’s stumbling in the back of the line. You want to see her win.

*

Donchey does the hat trick as: A) a director skilled in shifting our focus around the ensemble interaction; B) a choreographer who can stage deliberately sloppy classroom dancing (no mean trick) as well as a nifty closing number; and C) an actor who fully inhabits a faded professional terpsichorean trying to push a group of non-dancers past their own expectations.

Accents do waver, but for the most part, this is a (largely) college-age cast exuding confidence and unabashed affection for this material. Some in the cast make more of their solo moments than others: Domerego suggests how Vera masks her own shortcomings with uninvited motherliness, while Bethanie Knieser’s nurse movingly expresses her first encounter with death.

Harris’ play goes painfully out of its way to give everyone such moments--subtlety is not something to look for in “Stepping Out.” But there’s plenty else to look at here: Volonte’s grimy set and lights include telling offstage details and Liz Hubner’s costumes are absolutely right, down to the finale. All of it fills out the right show in the right place.

* “Stepping Out,” Rancho Santiago College, Phillips Hall Little Theatre, 1731 W. 17th St., Santa Ana. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends May 21. $6-$8. (714) 564-5661. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Sheryl Donchey: Mavis

Melisa Halfmann: Andy

Jo Hinds: Mrs. Fraser

Sherry Domerego: Vera

Melinda Womack: Maxine

Saidell L. Preston: Rose

Bethanie Knieser: Lynne

Randy Rock: Geoffrey

Catherine Wise: Sylvia

Margaret M. Hohlfeld: Dorothy

A Rancho Santiago College Theatre Arts department production. Directed and choreographed by Sheryl Donchey. Assistant director: Robert G. Leigh. Set and lights: D. Silvio Volonte. Costumes: Liz Hubner. Sound: Justus Matthews.