Rude Guerrilla Does Comedy With a Punch On the Boards

To audiences used to Rude Guerrilla’s style, with such plays as “Corpus Christi” and “Identified Human Remains,” a comedic look at modern couples like Steve Salinaro’s “My Married Friends” might seem unlikely.

It’s more likely than it seems. Rude Guerrilla artistic director Dave Barton first saw the play in its world premiere at Cal State Fullerton in 1998. He says he was blown away by the writing.

“I thought it was really sharp,” Barton said, “and brutally honest about our relationships with each other. Relationships between men and women, between men and men. And it slips a social consciousness into the comedy as well.”

“My Married Friends” concerns the strong friendship between Michael and Alan, and the devastating effect on that friendship when Alan marries Mindy. But it wasn’t the plot that attracted Barton, nor director Todd Kulczyk, who guided the piece at Cal State Fullerton and makes an encore appearance here.

It was the fine writing that caught their attention.

“People come expecting to see something different than they’d see at an ordinary theater,” Barton said. “In this case we thought we’d try something a little less sensational, but that had the same high quality of writing, and focused more on human beings.

* “My Married Friends,” Empire Theater, 200 N. Broadway, Santa Ana. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Saturday. $12. (714) 547-4688.