‘To Wed’ for the Sake of Convenience

Girl on the rebound meets guy. They become friends. She moves into his posh pad. He gives her the key to a car and a credit card. One other thing . . . he’s gay, so she can keep her integrity. Sound like a gold digger’s dream come true--the perfect Manhattan marriage?

In her “To Wed, Divorce, and Bury” at the Zoo Theatre, Kristin Steele gives the Manhattan marriage a different take. Instead of the heterosexual gal pal and gay guy, it’s a promiscuous lesbian writer, Maggie (Laura Lee Botsacos), and an uptight, still-in-the-closet gay architect, Jake (Leonard Edelstein).

Set designer Ed Koterro’s textured light-gray walls suggest concrete, but that is the only convincing thing of any weight in this Subtle Bliss Theater Company production. Via stilted dialogue and short vignettes, Jake and Maggie predictably deal with their intimacy issues.

Jake’s bachelor pad is crowded by the addition of Jake and Maggie’s alter egos (Eric Almquist and Ashley Schoff, respectively), who don’t really add to the dramatic thrust. The inclusion of Jake’s beating by a gay-bashing thug (Chris Devlin, alternating with Chad Kukahiko) does, but Steele’s drama depends too heavily on this cheap tug at our heartstrings. Samantha Swaim’s direction doesn’t fill out the meager structure of the script, and neither Botsacos nor Edelstein passes as a convincing co-dependent.

If you wonder about the title, the Guide (James Gordon) spouts the philosophical reasons at the appropriate intervals. Yet there’s the temptation during this roughly two-hour production to think that when your friends wed, if you’re not entertained, at least you’re fed.

* “To Wed, Divorce, and Bury,” Zoo Theatre, 1611 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 17. $15. (323) 460-4233. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.