Earthbound ‘Moon’ Fails to Illuminate

“Be careful what you wish for; you create your own world,” one character warns in Alicia Madrid’s comedy “Shame on the Moon.” Unfortunately, the world created here at Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Theatre 4 falls short of magic.

In this inaugural production by the lesbian-focused company, Ivy Theatre, a Latina working-class couple in Highland Park is confronted by a miracle. Flaca (Dianna Miranda) is the flirtatious partner, dressed in a tight black cleavage-revealing top and blue jean cutoffs. She soon announces she is pregnant. Her startled, plaid shirt-clad mate, the swaggering (somewhat unconvincing) construction worker Sheena (Maria Russell), angrily demands to know who the father is.

In a ham-fisted way (using a well-lighted white statue of the Virgin Mary), we are reminded of the Annunciation and the disbelief surrounding it. Madrid’s script attempts to intertwine images of dance and poetic declarations, but it also meanders into comic relief about concerned mothers deserted by the various men who fathered their children and a concerned parent (Daniel Rey) packing food and a microwave to search for Flaca.

Deborah Lawlor and Abigail Caro choreographed some interesting dance sequences, but the physical presence is lacking. The dance numbers don’t always flow into the dramatic action.

* “Shame on the Moon,” Los Angeles Theatre Center, Theatre 4, 514 S. Spring St. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 15. $15. (213) 485-1681. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.