THEATER REVIEWS : Promising ‘Grey Haven’

The Grey Haven is a run-down roadside tavern many miles from civilization on a lonely highway in Colorado. Owner Loretta (Shannon McDuff) serves bad food and rough drinks. Her customers are ragtag derelicts whose last stop this may be, assorted travelers and some offbeat locals.

Revolving Doors’ Tribune Theatre produces two plays, under the umbrella title “Tales From the Grey Haven,” that take place in the tavern’s back yard. They are written by company members: Steve Spehar wrote “Indian Burial Ground,” and “The Wise Guy” was penned by Joe E. Mugwump, obviously a very publicity-shy company member. Both plays have dramatic antecedents, and both provide intriguing promise that isn’t entirely fulfilled.

“Indian” is directed by Bradley A. Whitfield with poetic rhythms and a poignant sense of the emptiness of its characters’ lives. Jim (David Paris) is a local who watches over Ramona (Jennifer Bishton), who was hit by a truck and has brain damage. No one knows who she is, but her total obsession with an Indian burial ground indicates that she is an old friend of playwright Sam Shepard.

Branch (Christopher Michael Egger) is another friend of Shepard’s, a handsome wanderer who doesn’t care where he wanders. Sarge and Ginny (Whitfield and Jill Torpe), the most inventive creations, are a trucker and his girl who are about to reverse their course, on the highway and in life.

Nothing happens in the script except their interplay, which is interesting enough in its promise, although it isn’t by any means a finished play.

Whitfield, with the most fully developed role, gives the most fully developed performance, rich in detail and effective in its powerful insight. His Cyrano-like false nose is just as well-done and adds to the portrait he’s created.

Torpe is a spring about to unwind as his girl, and Bishton’s brightly hued, theatrical Ramona takes the writing to its poetic peak. Paris, as Ramona’s keeper, and Egger, as the wanderer, are both ciphers and haven’t rounded out their shallow roles with enough interior detail to provide more than passing interest.

“Wise Guy” is directed by Nicholai Byzinski IV (another insecure company member?), with brisk, rewarding tempos that match its tongue-in-cheek attitude.

The Wise Guy (Howard Patterson) has very strong echoes of George M. Cohan’s Vagabond in “The Tavern.” He continuously deals from a Tarot deck, frivolously spouts sage pronouncements on life and eternity and tricks an out-of-gas traveler into turning over the keys to his ’65 Astin-Martin on the outcome of a riddle-guessing game. There’s a bit of Shepard in this charade too, but its one turning point isn’t strong enough to make a real play.

Patterson couldn’t be more right in his portrayal of the Wise Guy, glib and very theatrical in an old-school manner, a trickster verbally and facially. Nicholas Boicourt Jr. is the perfect balance with his fervent, very honest performance as the terminally dumb traveler, fascinating in his ability to make his character’s opaqueness believable. Steven Lamprinos and Joel Beers have very funny moments as the two slapstick bums who turn out to be Patterson’s henchmen.

McDuff is excellently sleazy as Loretta, a character in both plays who gives a hint that the scripts might be blended into a longer drama, which, in spite of the echoes of Shepard, could have an identity and a life of its own.

* “Tales From the Grey Haven,” Tribune Theatre, 116 1/2 W. Wilshire Ave., Fullerton. Friday through Sunday, 8 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5 and $7. (714) 525-3403. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Jennifer Bishton: Ramona

David Paris: Jim

Christopher Michael Egger: Branch

Bradley A. Whitfield: Sarge

Jill Torpe: Ginny

Shannon McDuff: Loretta

Howard Patterson: The Wise Guy

Nicholas Boicourt Jr.: Jonah

Joel Beers: Balin

Steven Lamprinos: Dwalin

A Revolving Door Productions staging of two original plays, produced by Steven Lamprinos. Directed by Bradley A. Whitfield and Nicholai Byzinski IV. Scenic design: Steve Spehar. Lighting design: Jim Hart. Sound design: Mike Koebler.