God, Love Prevail Over Fame

Monty in “Mr. Thirteen Episodes” at Actors Workout Studio in North Hollywood says that if he wants theater, he goes to New York. Making a sour face, he says, “Have you ever seen a play in L.A.?”

Monty, played by Jack Verell, might be talking about this one-act, the loser in an evening of one-acts titled “God, Love, Fame.” The others have a great deal more going for them.

“Mr. Thirteen Episodes” by Robert Dryer and Roger Gutierrez is television-oriented, not very character-driven and basically a one-joke affair. It’s about a faded TV personality whose 13-week series ended years ago, leaving him without a career. He’s accosted in an airline men’s room by a young man who remembers asking his television hero, Monty, for an autographed picture and never getting it.

It turns out he’s an airport cop who threatens, among other things, to arrest Monty by planting drugs in his tote. He’s kidding, of course, but he’s had his revenge. Verell and Ryan MacLennan, as the other man, don’t go very far beneath the television surface of this piece in their performances. But Charles Philip Moore’s direction does get it over with pretty quickly.

That’s the “Fame” part of the umbrella title of this uneven evening of one-acts. “Love” and “God” fare much better.

“Love” opens the bill in the shape of Fran Montano and Moore’s “I Say Hello,” about a couple separated three months and unsure of the wisdom of the breakup. Rick has come to Connie’s flat to pick up his remaining bits and pieces, and to try to start over.

Connie is having no part of this plan. Besides, her new beau is about to arrive for a date. The dialogue is crisp and bubbling between Rick (Jon Cellini) and Connie (Jeanne Heileman), hinting that this might be the first draft of a longer play. Cellini and Heileman are both excellent, balancing easily between anger and remembered affection, and Cellini in particular has developed an intriguing portrait of a guy who’s more on a romantic fence than he’ll admit. Co-author Moore is less successful as new beau Dave, looking, for the most part, as though he’s still early in the rehearsal process.

God and a delightful sense of humor are evident in the final play of the evening, “God Knows.” Author-director Peter Fox says in a program note that he hopes the play isn’t too preachy. Well, it is, but that doesn’t matter. Fox’s dialogue is quick and pointed and usually very, very funny.

Joe (Greg Forshay), a staunch and trembling Catholic, has brought his Jewish fiancee, Ruth (Jessica Randle), to see his parish priest, Father Mike (Neil Gader). Ruth is pregnant and wants to have an abortion. Joe is terrified of eternal damnation.

Suddenly, in a flash, who should appear before them but God himself (Cary Thompson), to try to sort things out for the couple and, coincidentally, for Father Mike. The good father tells the interloper that pretending to be God is a sacrilege. Smiling, God sallies, “Then why do you do it?”

The writing sparkles. The reasoning behind God’s lecture and his refusal to make their decision for them, is seamless, and oddly enough the whole is frequently hilarious. Of course, some of the fun comes from the fact that God is black, and Thompson’s buoyant performance crackles.

While Gader’s priest is a little colorless--that’s the way Fox has painted him--Forshay and Randle have created solid, honest characterizations that help drive the laughter.

BE THERE

“God, Love, Fame,” Actors Workout Studio, 4735 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 11. $12. (818) 506-3903. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.