A Too Starchy ‘Laundry’

Jorge Albertella is not only the proprietor of the Actors Playhouse in Long Beach, but he’s also a playwright and a psychologist. It’s from the latter field that he has drawn the material for his new comedy, “Dirty Laundry,” which is receiving its premiere production from L.A. Jewish Theatre.

The story centers around Stan Shapiro, the 55-year-old married owner of a dry-cleaning business. At the end of his employee Christmas party, customer Mario Lopez comes in with a load of clothes for cleaning, but an employee named Mona spills champagne and salsa all over the clothes Lopez is wearing. Stan offers to clean them and takes Lopez into the office so he can undress.

Illogically, Lopez talks Stan into taking his clothes off, too, obviously with lust in mind. Stan seizes the moment and enjoys it, but he’s confused by this new element in his life and panicky over how to keep it from his kvetching wife, Donna.

When Stan arrives home with another employee, a handsome young man from India named Ari, he finds Donna angrily accusing him of a supposed fling he’s having with luscious Mona. Ari’s naive hints about the truth slowly let the truth dawn on Donna.

Albertella’s play needs work. Not only is the customer’s invitation to Stan illogical, most of the dialogue, from Donna’s shrieking to Stan’s ineffective dodges, and the sudden appearance of the customer at the end, are fraught with improbability.

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Still, it’s based on a valid and very funny and ironic premise, with characters and situations drawn from real life out of Albertella’s practice.

A lot of the talk sounds like filler and could be much more casual and offhand for better comic effect. Oddly, the exception to this is the dialogue Albertella has given Ari, which is amazingly natural in contrast with the others’, especially Ari’s innocent, and humorously repeated, description of his randy puberty in a poverty-stricken Indian village.

Johanna Siegmann has directed the piece at a firecracker pace, which helps, and generates a lot of laughs. The inner rhythms of most scenes are balanced.

As Stan, J.D. Smith maintains a bumbling reserve that works well, but Claire Kirk’s Donna falls too much into stereotype, and she tends to overdo it.

As Lopez, the mysterious stranger who rattles Stan’s closet door and then throws it open, Anthony Vatsula has an aura of calm assurance and a charming warmth just right for the character.

James Esposito almost steals the evening in the most honestly written role, that of Ari. He has an on-target comic hesitancy and captures Ari’s youthful innocence about his experienced past.

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* “Dirty Laundry,” Actors Playhouse, 1409 E. 4th St., Long Beach. 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $16. Ends Feb. 7. (562) 590-9396. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

J.D. Smith: Stan Shapiro

Claire Kirk: Donna Shapiro

James Esposito: Ari

Anthony Vatsula: Mario Lopez

An L.A. Jewish Theatre production of Jorge Albertella’s comedy. Directed by Johanna Siegmann. Scenic design: Jorge Albertella. Lighting design: John Elliot.