A Play on Weeds

Carol Wolf, author of the intriguing and award-winning “Monsieur Sheherazad,” has a new play called “Day Blacknight Morning” at Stages in Anaheim. It looks as though it’s by a different playwright altogether.

Intriguing it’s not. It is filled with ideas that contradict, like a stew made after a frantic search through the fridge. There are dancing, singing trees (from “The Wizard of Oz”), lilting folk-like songs that speak of lonely fate (from “The Dark of the Moon”), techo-junk (from the latest action flick) and bitter women (name your favorite Edward Albee play).

Brady’s boyfriend Chris disappeared six years earlier without a word. Since then, Brady has made a bucket of money from a fast-food chain. Now, she’s seeking revenge on that lousy Chris, whom she finally sees on a telecast claiming he’s a marijuana farmer in the Sierra Nevada. The feds have seen it too, spurring their own ascent unto the hills, in the person of militaristic Ramsay, and the other formidable female, McTavitt, also known as the Hammer.

What they find is Chris and his buddy George in the clutches of the even more evil Lady of the Trees, who drugs the guys with her marijuana-laced kisses to weaken their will (see current story in the Amazing Spider Man), so they will provide her with the weed she needs to live.

This is the sort of play Sam Shepard might have written before he learned how to write. The women are powerful and in control here, and the men weak and lost perpetually to drugs and amorous advances.

Perhaps another director might have given some meaningful shape to this potpourri, but Wolf has directed this world-premiere with a heavy-handed cartoon look and feel. There’s a great deal of theatricality here, without much real theater.

The cast does what it can to bring life into a production that frequently gets laughs in the wrong places. Toni Kallen makes an effort to bring some intelligence and understanding to the role of Brady, and Tiina Wiles is remarkably restrained in her female Stallone role as a menacing narc. Tamiko Washington, credited with choreographing the leafy chorus line, plays the Lady of the Trees with memorable menace.

The men don’t fare as well. Matt Tully as Chris, and Roger Freeman as George, look like zombies from a serial. K.C. Mercer as Ramsay might have been a member of Sgt. Bilko’s unit, and Dave Amitin as a befuddled reporter appears to have been kissed and drugged by the Lady from the beginning, rather than at the end, after the superwomen have taken away the other guys.

BE THERE

“Day Blacknight Morning,” Stages, 1188 N. Fountain Way, Anaheim. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. $10. Ends Aug. 23. (714) 630-3059. Running time: 2 hours.