‘Life on the Line’: Tales of Burbank Jobless

How unusual--a new play that’s set in the same Southland neighborhood as the theater where it’s presented. Furthermore, it tackles local social issues and avoids any mention of the entertainment industry. So Tom Ormeny’s “Life on the Line,” which has all those qualifications, is welcome, even if it has plenty of problems in its premiere at the Victory Theatre.

Not far from the Victory, Lockheed employed thousands of Burbank residents for decades. After the company abandoned Burbank a few years ago, some of the newly unemployed attended storytelling sessions at the theater, where they discussed their experiences.

Ormeny’s fictionalized play was inspired by some of these tales. Set at a Burbank job center in 1995, the play substitutes the name “Brigmark” for Lockheed. Ormeny created a cross section of ex-Brigmark employees who look for work and seek counseling at the center.

Among the better educated are a multi-degreed Iranian emigre (James Dalesandro), a depressed man (Travis Michael Holder) with a Caltech PhD and ex-engineer Elias Ramirez (Richard Cansino), now a house-husband. Former efficiency expert Doreen (Tabi Cooper) is the only one who makes progress in finding another job. Others include a bigoted Vietnam vet (Jim Haynie), an African American woman (Helen Sampson) who finds comfort in her church choir, and a Cheyenne loner (Richard Yniguez) who refuses to attend group meetings.

The staff members are as prominent as the clients. In charge is middle-aged Aaron (Scanlon Gail), a leftie from way back. His chief assistant Jackie (Kathleen Bailey) unfortunately attracts married men. The senior therapist (Irene Roseen) survived the Holocaust as a teenager only by selling her sexual services. Her chief assistant (Wayne Kohanek) has a way of infuriating some of the clients.

There is yet another character: a smooth-talking Brigmark executive (Joe O’Connor) who tries to make nice with the jobless center, primarily for public relations purposes.

Considering the source of the material, it must have been hard to decide on whom to concentrate. The play not only shifts focus too often, but also paints some of the characters as quick and easily recognized stereotypes. Still, director Maria Gobetti extracts from her ensemble an authentic feeling of people who know one another a little too well.

The play’s greater problem is that it’s so intent on examining the roots of everyone’s personal pain (which becomes somewhat melodramatic, with two sexual affairs and two attempted suicides) that it largely ignores the process that brings these people together--looking for a job. And while larger social issues are discussed, they aren’t truly dramatized. When a solitary Aaron goes over his notes for a speech out loud, it’s as if Ormeny couldn’t think of any other way to incorporate the politics into the fabric of the play.

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* “Life on the Line,” Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Indefinitely. $18-$20. (818) 841-5421. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.