Actor Has a Jones to Tell His Story

Here’s a concept. A young performer, who appears to be barely into his 20s, does an autobiographical solo show about his life, with an emphasis on the arc of his Hollywood “career.”

It’s brash. It’s audacious. It’s intensely irritating.

Chicago-reared William James Jones, whose most significant credit to date is a regular stint on a Saturday morning kids’ series, charts his epic progression into the annals of show business in “Jones’n” at the Hudson Guild. Directed by Melvin Boyce II, this is more resume than play, an awkwardly engineered vanity piece that chugs through the details of Jones’ young life like a hamster on a wheel, with great energy but little purpose.

In acting out the various personae from his past--an influential teacher, an irascible grandmother--Jones shows considerable range, and his treatment of his abusive, drug-addicted father is heartfelt. One feels that, given different material, he could have been genuinely engaging. But Jones’ assumption that the minutiae of his own experience is somehow myth-like--or even particularly interesting--is mistaken. And his inability to draw universal corollaries dooms his nascent effort.

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* “Jones’n,” Hudson Avenue Theater, 6541 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Ends Jan. 6. $12. (213) 939-4217. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.