Relationships Heat Up in ‘Burn This’

Lanford Wilson is not a playwright Hollywood is chomping at the bit over. His plays are theater pieces first and foremost, relying on the live experience for his strengths to breathe deeply and grab the imagination.

From “Balm in Gilead” to the “Tally Trilogy,” he treats life honestly with the sympathetic heart that marks strong drama.

One of his most interesting later plays is “Burn This,” which in its original production was somewhat overpowered by the performance of John Malkovich as Pale. Later productions have allowed the play to find its own shape and form.

A new revival of “Burn This” opens at Sherman Oaks’ Whitefire Theatre tonight, with award-winning director Joel Asher at the helm. Asher explains that he wants this staging to be what he calls “a unit, an ensemble piece.”

The play concerns a Manhattan dancer named Anna, who has had two gay roommates, one of whom has been killed recently in a boating accident. Her life, and the lives of her remaining roommate and her boyfriend, are turned upside-down with the appearance of the late roommate’s overbearing brother Pale, a gun-toting restaurant honcho from New Jersey.

The relationship between Anna and Pale is the basis for self-discovery in all the characters, particularly the obnoxious Pale. Michael Hegedus, who plays Pale in this staging, says he knows something about the character.

“I’ve been on his level at times in the past,” Hegedus says. The New Jersey native explains that, to his mind, Pale is taking a journey in an undiscovered country and has a lot to learn.

“He’s catalyzed by his brother’s death. He’s going through changes. Major passages. Learning about himself. At this point in time he’s a failure. His marriage is failing, he’s been a lousy brother, lousy husband. He’s a workaholic.”

There’s a lot of Pale in everyone, Hegedus says. “Here’s a man who’s looking into the abyss of his life,” he says. “We all face this, looking into the mirror and looking into this dark hole, saying ‘Where am I? What am I doing?’ Pale is examining this, coming to terms and going through a lot of turmoil through this change. It’s scary.”

Asher talks about looking at the script and “seeing the humanity going on in it. All of the things we have to explore. It’s that exploration that’s thrilling about working on a piece like this.”

Although “Burn This” is really a play about Anna, the role of Pale is a powerful one, one that Hegedus has wanted to tackle ever since he saw it on Broadway.

“I think my older brother is Pale,” Hegedus says, not altogether in fun. “He’s a Pale type. I am too. We’re cut from the same cloth. The audience is in for a night.”

* “Burn This,” Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 20. $15. (213) 466-1767 or (818) 953-9993.

It’s in the Numbers: Playwright Shelley Abrams has been involved with theater since she was a child actress. She has also been a teacher for some years, at present teaching fourth-graders, and it’s this day job that provided the basis for her new play, “I’ve Got Your Number,” opening Friday at NoHo Studios.

Abrams explains it this way: Teachers are never paid enough. Medical and dental benefits often fall short, too. Add to that the problems that can arise by giving parents your home number; students sometimes get hold of it and make crank calls in the middle of the night. What does teacher do?

She changes the number, of course. That’s the real Abrams’ experience. The imagination comes in when the teacher starts getting calls for her new number’s previous owner, a hit man. She needs money, so she starts answering the phone with, “Hello, Murder Inc.” She’s not the type, but hey, she needs dental work.

“She takes out books from the library on quick and painless ways to kill people, because she can’t hurt a fly.” Abrams says. “She’s afraid of cockroaches. Even to decide she’s going to embark on a life of crime is humorous.”

When bodies start turning up in teacher’s neighborhood, she doesn’t think it’s so humorous, though. She’s told all her friends about her moonlighting plan.

“I don’t know any teachers who are hit people,” Abrams says with a chuckle. “I’m not trying to make a point. It’s cute, it’s a feel-good comedy.”

* “I’ve Got Your Number,” NoHo Actors Studio, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 20. $12-$15. (818) 973-2254.

It’s a Jungle Out There: There are reasons that Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” remains popular. Not only is it fascinating reading, but it also continues to charm audiences in all its forms, from the classy 1942 Alexander Korda film with Sabu, to the gooey Walt Disney animation from 1967, and Disney’s recent live-action version.

Another adaptation of the story of the young boy Mowgli, raised by wolves, is being presented by the Serendipity Theatre to begin its seventh season. This version is by Kipling authority Salah Abdul-Wahid, and according to Serendipity artist director Katy Realista, it deals honestly with nature’s beauty and its harshness.

Although Serendipity produces youth theater, Realista hopes this production will encourage not only young people, but also their parents to reread this classic coming-of-age story, which like “Bambi,” explains rites of passage in a way that young people easily comprehend.

* “The Jungle Book,” Serendipity Theatre, George Izay Park, 1100 West Clark St., Burbank. 1 p.m. Saturdays; 1 & 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 20. $8-$14. (818) 557-0505.