‘Screen Test’ Mines Old Hollywood Camp

It’s no coincidence that the scene for the screen test in Jack Betts’ “Screen Test--Take One” at the Skylight Theatre is lifted directly from the 1952 film “The Bad and the Beautiful.” Although set in the present, Betts’ ambitious drama, directed by veteran actress Doris Roberts, aspires to be a grand, sweeping potboiler in the rattling tradition of old Hollywood.

In the play’s campy central premise, venerable director David Wanamaker (Betts) has exactly one day to recast the female lead in his film before his exasperated studio head pulls the plug on his production. In the rush, somehow only three actresses have been scheduled for screen tests, including the troubled yet brilliant Christine Farley (Sibel Ergener).

The camera loves Christine, who’s on the fast track to snagging the role. But she happens to have a major cocaine habit. No matter. Under Wanamaker’s benevolently paternal tutelage and the admiring eye of assistant director Seymour (Al Sapienza), Christine manages to dry out--over the course of an hourlong lunch break, no less--and really deliver the goods. The role is won. A star is born.

Betts’ retro fable consists of one long series of “actor’s moments,” deftly rendered by Roberts and her talented cast. Granted, Betts casts a few too many snarled plot lines into his sea of nostalgia. Nevertheless, “Screen Test” goes down like buttered popcorn at a Saturday matinee.

* “Screen Test--Take One,” Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. April 21 and 28, 3 p.m. Ends May 5. $20. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.