Lovers Looking for ‘Trust’ in All the Wrong Places

Trust is scarce in “Trust,” Steven Dietz’s intriguing drama at the Hudson Theatre.

Set in and around the pop music world, “Trust” examines a group of young singles who seek intimacy with one another but are seldom satisfied. It’s not deep, but it has plenty of well-crafted phrases.

The new Nexus Ensemble Theatre and director Dan Bonnell have done well by “Trust,” polishing small moments but also retaining a casual, free-flowing look. The cast is indeed trustworthy.

At the hub of “Trust” are mid-20s rock star Cody (Randall Batinkoff, properly charismatic) and Becca (Susan Lee Hoffman), who works in publishing. Despite their approaching wedding, Cody is also attracted to the older singer-songwriter Leah (Karen S. Gregan), who was once a “force” on the pop scene herself, but who is now more of an “influence.” They begin a casual affair, which is complicated by the fact that the jaded but lonely Leah recently renewed her friendship with a former intimate, Gretchen (Katy Selverstone, skillfully underplaying), who just happens to be making Becca’s wedding dress.

Anyone who finds that too much of a coincidence may also wonder how Cody and Becca ever got together in the first place. There’s an erotic charge between them, but they don’t have much in common and don’t travel in the same circles. Another puzzlement is the question of how Leah and Gretchen became such close drinking buddies with Holly (Antoinette Valente), who is 15 years their junior but seems even younger.

Dietz doesn’t appear to care much about these loose narrative ends. He concentrates on finding interesting things for these people to say to one another, and to us, and in that effort he usually succeeds. The opening scene is a masterful dissection of a one-sided dinner conversation.

Likewise, the second act opens with a sharp monologue by a sixth character, public radio deejay Roy (Mark Burnham). Here the play’s structure is at its loosest; Roy’s speech about the mysteries of cross-gender communications is almost like a stand-up comedy routine. But it’s funny, so its tangential relationship to the rest of the play is easily forgotten. Tall and shambling, wittily befuddled, Burnham is very amusing here and elsewhere in the play.

Costumer Laura Alvarez provided some dead-on outfits for this big lug and for just about everyone else--the only exception being a strangely dowdy dress that Leah wears in a bar scene.

Gerry Linsingan’s lights help make sense of the frequently shifting locales. Steven Gregan’s sound design keeps a rock’n’ spirit going between scenes but never becomes too deafening for this small space. This is emblematic of a production that examines in quiet and intimate detail a scene that’s often regarded as loud and vulgar.

BE THERE

“Trust,” Hudson Theatre Mainstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Aug. 24. $16-$20. (888) 566-8499. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.