Two One-Acts Find Universal Themes

A pair of Evelina Fernandez’s culture-bridging one-acts, well-performed and stylishly staged by Jose Luis Valenzuela, proves a fine choice to return the Latino Theatre Company to its comfortably refurbished venue at Plaza de la Raza’s Margo Albert Theatre.

Finding universal human concerns amid the particulars of everyday life is Fernandez’s forte, though these pieces take very different approaches to realism. The opener, “Premeditation,” starts out as a noirish hotel room rendezvous between a hit man (Sal Lopez) and a sultry client (Angela Moya) who wants her husband murdered. It’s only when the killer demands a reason--even a bad one--that Fernandez shows her real focus: a bittersweet exploration of conflicted male-female relations.

The woman’s litany of grievances ranges from trivial annoyance (his renting movies he knows she won’t like) to deep-rooted fears (that killing him is the only way to be sure he won’t leave her), while the increasingly reluctant killer soon finds himself scrutinizing his own marital troubles. Unfortunately, the problematic moral context dictates a goofy treatment that sometimes undercuts the insightful and sometimes disheartening truths dredged up by these unlikely philosophers.

Less dramatic but more consistently satisfying is Fernandez’s kitchen dialogue between two middle-aged Latinas, “How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive?” Without straying from the commonplace, Lupe Ontiveros gives an irresistible performance as Nellie, a woman masking great disappointments--the premature death of her husband and her inability to have children--behind an earthy, combative front. She’s a sharp contrast to Angie (Moya, trading in her exotic mystery from the first play for dowdy shyness), her overly fertile friend and neighbor who drops by to announce she’s pregnant once again. Where a less skillful dramatist might have milked their opposing natures for obvious jokes, Fernandez pares away their differences and finds richer veins in their common humanity, much to our surprise and delight.

* “How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive?” and “Premeditation,” Plaza de la Raza, Margo Albert Theatre, 3540 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles. Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 7. $16. (213) 223-6403. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.