The Monsters That Hide Inside Each Person

Michael Blieden’s shrewdly observant play “Phyro-Giants!” isn’t about imaginary monsters, but rather the kind of revealing conversations that occur when four diners, linked by casual friendships, linger to talk after red wine has loosened their tongues.

What is revealed is perhaps more frightening than supernatural creatures, and director Steve Rudnick gives this a natural flow.

Melvin (Blieden) meets his old friend Joey (Matt Price) for dinner. Joey has invited his friend Alex (Stephanie Courtney). By chance, Alex runs into her friend Sarah (Annabelle Gurwitch) in front of a restaurant and invites her to dinner.

The audience doesn’t see the introductions or hesitant beginnings. The play begins after the meal is done and the remnants of a chocolate dessert are being picked at. Alex is talking about ghosts. The women believe in the supernatural, but the men do not.

Yet the lines drawn between them are not simply men versus women. Melvin and Sarah have more in common than they think--their inability to commit to a schedule and perhaps to a love interest. Alex and Joey also are linked in ways that aren’t readily apparent.

Alcohol is their social lubricant, and as inhibitions drop, secrets are revealed. Rudnick doesn’t glibly pass over moments when the conversation becomes strained, and the pauses are uncomfortably pregnant.

The end forces you to reassess what you think you knew--just as each character must.

The actors, including Kathleen Roll as the waitress, work seamlessly off of one another.

Phyro-giants are the creatures that a crazy man believed existed between a “creatress” and humankind, according to Melvin. In Blieden’s piece, the giants seem to be the life choices that rule decisions and the horded secrets that create an unknown and unknowable entity hovering behind the facades people present.

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“Phyro-Giants!” Third Street Theater, 8140 W. 3rd St., L.A. Saturdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 18. $10. (323) 281-0648. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.