‘Texas’ Is Big on Stating Absurdities

Judy Soo Hoo’s wacky dark comedy “Texas,” presented by the Lodestone Theatre Ensemble at the Secret Rose Theatre, isn’t going to win any prizes from that state’s tourism bureau. Director Jeff Liu pushes his three actors into a maniacal glee that minimizes the script’s weaknesses.

In Soo Hoo’s yarn, an Asian American scholarship student, Stephen (Roger Fan), arrives at a hick college where his roommates are Asian American equivalents of trailer trash rednecks--older brother Duke (Ryun Yu) and mentally challenged Danny (Eddie Mui).

A lot happens in one night. Duke, a butcher and former car-chopper, bellows and bullies. Both brothers have psychological buttons that are set off by certain words, and odd games must be played as a result.

Yu is brutishly handsome in his black boots, jeans and black tank top. Mui is pitifully conflicted, trembling with every move as the eager-to-please man-child. Toward the end, Fan fills out the dimensions of his character well.

Soo Hoo develops her plot by layering absurdity upon absurdity, stretching credibility past its limits. She hasn’t set up much dramatic tension, but director Liu whips Mui into such an emotional frenzy at the end that it feels like a climax.

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* “Texas,” Secret Rose Theatre, 11246 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 1 p.m. Ends Oct. 17. $12. (323) 993-7245. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.