An Engaging Yet Confusing ‘Mirage’

In Annie Reiner’s comedy, “Mirage a Trois,” the meta-theatrical conceit wears thin by the end, but this Santa Monica Playhouse production is so fluidly directed by Chris DeCarlo and well acted by a talented ensemble that getting there is entertaining enough.

Reiner constructs a double menage a trois that crosses from reality into the world of imagination and desires. The first triangle centers on a “schmucky” playwright, Jack (Randy Kovitz), his current rich young wife Brandy (Mary Ellen Lyon) and his former wife, Lila (Shareen Mitchell), a talented architect whom he still loves. Jack is writing a play called “Mirage” that involves similar circumstances. His fictional characters Christina (Jennifer Bransford), Olivia (Molly Cheek) and Steven (Albie Selznick) begin to take on stubborn lives and desires of their own that involve the beleaguered Jack, who says, “I trust my characters to tell me the truth.”

Yet the confusion and breakdown of realities is not well defined. The switch from laid-back musings of the conflicted Jack to chaotic rearrangement of boundaries seems forced, and it upsets the pleasant rhythm that director DeCarlo has set.

Kovitz plays Jack as a regular good guy caught up in circumstances beyond his control while Mitchell is the sultry woman who understands Jack best.

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* “Mirage a Trois,” Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Fridays, 8 p.m., Saturdays, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.; Sundays, 6:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 31. $20. (310) 394-9779, Ext. 1. Running time: 2 hours.