‘Aftershock’: After the Fault Line Moves

Recurring themes of isolation, alienation and dread rumble throughout “Aftershock,” a program of five short plays at the Downtown Playhouse, all set in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Tim Keating’s trash-strewn set looks like the aftermath of a dump explosion. During set changes, droll Leon Martell, a founder of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater, regales us with uproarious accounts of famous disasters.

“Pool,” written and directed by Guy Zimmerman, is an undynamic piece that is rescued by Pamela Gordon’s solid central performance. Zimmerman also directs Sharon Yablon’s “Earthquakes Bring People Closer,” in which a man with a severed leg endures a cryptic rant by his disturbed friend. Rachel M. Resnick’s “Body After Body,” directed by John Steppling, shows us a hilariously misogynistic postal worker (Mickey Swenson), driven to rage, disgust and thwarted lust by the feet of a female victim, just inches from his face.

In Wes Walker’s witty “The Furnace,” which Walker also directs, an elegantly attired couple faces the aftermath of a quake, cocktails still in hand. Steppling’s philosophically rambling “Face of the Dog,” which Steppling also directs, lacks the visceral pro-pulsiveness of his finest work.

As the performers are mostly immobilized in debris, the staging for all the works is essentially static. Cecil Schmidt’s murky lighting ensures that “Aftershock” will never be mistaken for a vanity piece. Indeed, even at the curtain call, we can barely see these performers.

* “Aftershock,” Downtown Playhouse, 929 E. 2nd St . , No. 105, Los Angeles. Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 17. $12. (213) 626-6906.