Longing Touches Offan Internal ‘Quake’

A young woman in a ragged-edged white dress and sneakers steps to the microphone and declares: “I was on the bottom of the lake and I was crawling out. My eyes are open and my heart’s on my sleeve. I am moving. Looking for the love of my life.”

But what Lucy (Adrianne Avey) finds in her search--the earth-shaking qualities of love and the emotional tremors and fissures--make her want to duck and cover. In her misery, she obsessively admires a notorious rogue academic (Dinah Hamilton) who, clad in a white lab coat over a black bustier and a skirt split beyond common decency, is offing her lovers.

Under director Amy Feinberg, Theatre Pangaea gives a fittingly quirky presentation of Melanie Marnich’s abstract comedy “Quake.” Trefoni Rizzi’s set design is a map with curling edges that roll out beyond the edge of the Hollywood Court Theatre stage. When actors come to the mike, they loom above the audience at a disconcerting angle that enhances the absurd universe of Marnich’s script.

Avey exudes the right amount of wonder and innocence as she goes through an assortment of men--the jock (P.J. Sosko), the nice guy/angel (Jeremy Guskin) and the cheating yuppie (Corey Hayes). Hamilton strides about like an earthbound Wonder Woman fighting for and against big love.

Marnich doesn’t provide a happy ending or any grand pronouncements, but this is a pleasant, whimsical journey despite the road stops of heartbreak on the way.

*

“Quake,” Hollywood Court Theatre, 6817 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 and 8 p.m. Ends Oct. 13. $15. (323) 962-7630, Ext. 3. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.