Grim Memories Lie at ‘Insomnia’s’ Core

Jorge Luis Albertella’s drama “Insomnia” is the perfect prescription for sleep deprivation--one and a half hours of yawn-inducing politicizing and grimly detached acting, from the new Jewish Latin American Theatre.

Playing at the Hollywood Court Theatre, this piece is very serious stuff, and the actors intone their lines, rarely cracking a smile.

An emotionally withdrawn Jewish psychologist (Dennis Gersten) from an unnamed Latin American country finds himself treating a man named Julio (Jesse M. Garcia) for insomnia. Julio sweats and suffers from memories of torturing prisoners and reawakens the doctor’s shallowly buried memories of his years as a political prisoner.

Another phantom from the good doctor’s past appears (Gordon Jorgenson) bringing in homosexually tinged complications. Under the somber hand of Johanna Siegmann, the characters are unsympathetic and the whole production is crushed under the weight of its noble but gloomy political message.

“Insomnia,” Hollywood Court Theatre, First United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. $15. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.