‘Long Shadows’ Is Two Plays in One

Getting things off to a raucous start, a disgruntled hillbilly tosses his bound, wriggling yuppie sister into a storage bin. From there the pace rarely falters as “Old Sins, Long Shadows” at St. Stephen’s Church in Hollywood marks the debut of the Write Act Repertory Company with a well-performed and handsomely staged--though not exactly groundbreaking--portrait of rural Kentuckians trying to outfox a big city mining corporation.

Echoes of “The Kentucky Cycle” notwithstanding, Ellen Byron’s new work is closer kin to the comedies of Del Shores--particularly in the incessant squabbling among its quirky, avaricious family, penned with a distinctive and engaging flair for rural dialogue. The production is double-cast with no fixed lineups, making performance chemistry hard to predict, but director Anthony Di Pietro has clearly illuminated the themes and dramatic arcs in what turns out to be two plays in one.

The first is a freewheeling comedy centered on the abducted sister, Delorah (Jennifer VanderBliek/Leslie Harter), who’s goaded her brother (Terry Nemeroff/Alex Leydenfrost) into an ill-conceived ransom plot because she married money and schemed to sell the ramshackle property their family has owned for generations. Unfortunately, Delorah and her ineffectual husband (Dean Fortunato/Cameron Mitchell Jr.) aren’t very promising kidnap victims (they’ve already lost their fortune), but it doesn’t take her long to turn the tables and enlist most of her estranged siblings (Debra Tylak/Von Rae Wood, Geoff Erwin/Brad Parker) in a corporate extortion scheme of her own over surface versus mineral rights.

The secondary--but more involving--story line pits Delorah against the older sister (Rebecca Klingler/Margaret Bly) who single-handedly raised them all and paid a high emotional price for it. In their eventual confrontation--the show’s high point--each becomes unexpectedly sympathetic, but all the convoluted scheming beforehand makes the pivotal moment play as something of an afterthought.

* “Old Sins, Long Shadows,” St. Stephen’s Church, 6128 Yucca St., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 4. $15-$18. (323) 655-8587. Running time: 2 hours.

A History Lesson in ‘Millennium in Black’

Poison air, homelessness and government-sanctioned terminations are all part of Harriet A. Dickey’s “worst-case” scenario for the plight of blacks a hundred years from now in “Millennium in Black.” Sadly, a small contingent of gentrified “ignorati” like talk-show host Sojourner (Nancy Renee) have forgotten the injustices of the past and rationalize away the horrors that beset their people.

Sojourner is roused from her indifference when her intellectual cousin (Lonnie Colon) takes her on a dream-tour tracing the history of blacks in America, not unlike Scrooge’s ghostly visitations.

Nancy Cheryll Davis’ concept and direction fuels strong polemics and a passionate call to remember grievances and unite as a community.

However, dramatic complexity is not a priority in the effort to forge obvious villains and heroes. Characters are either saintly martyrs (Vincent J. Isaac, Teressa Taylor, Veronica Thompson, Karen ffolkes) or inhumane opportunists (Kenny Fisher, Trevor Gordon, Eulynda Porter)--there’s not much sign of the moral middle ground where most people live.

* “Millennium in Black,” Towne Street Theatre, 799 S. Towne Ave., Loft 301, Los Angeles. Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 19, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 21. $15. (213) 624-4796. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.