The Actor’s Life on Display in ‘Showcase’

You don’t have to be a show biz insider to get a kick out of “Beverly Winwood Presents The Actor’s Showcase,” the riotous new parody of industry showcases at the Groundling Theatre. It’s doubtful, however, that the show would have such built-in audience appeal in, say, Peoria.

It’s not that tourists fresh off the bus wouldn’t get a few laughs. After all, goofiness is a universal language, one in which Tony Sepulveda, the former Groundling who conceived and directed this enterprise, is fluent. However, the “industry showcase,” where actors desperate for exposure and representation perform scenes for an invited industry audience, is a distinctly L.A. phenomenon. If you have ever actively suffered through such a showcase--from either side of the footlights--this home-grown send-up is guaranteed to make you wince--and hoot--in uncomfortable recognition.

As you enter the theater, you are handed a stack of photocopied resumes while actors jockey nervously in the background. These are the “student performers” from Beverly Winwood’s acting class--rank neophytes in desperate search of a break who troll the lobby, pre- and post-show, for agents and casting directors. (As an added incentive, free Twinkies and Cheez Whiz are served.)

Padded with the dubious talents of the dubiously talented, the resumes contain plaintive passages such as “Not SAG Yet--Just Need One More Voucher.” As for special skills, “Can Walk Fast” represents a pinnacle of accomplishment.

With the exception of Liza Minnelli (Antoinette Spolar Levine) at a career nadir, the showcase participants are obscure wannabes who would consider a gig at Knott’s Berry Farm a big break. The obvious trick is that these “untalented unknowns” are actually comedy veterans, many of national reputation, who are simply playing untalented unknowns. At the end of the evening, you will receive a small slip of paper--a key telling you who played whom.

Study it carefully. Some of these performers, “names” though they may be, are virtually unrecognizable here. Her face twisted in comical anxiety, Mindy Sterling (of the “Austin Powers” movies) plays a scene from “The Elephant Man” with fellow Groundling alum Tim Bagley, a stroke victim in a wheelchair who keeps getting hung up in the stage furniture. And isn’t that Paul (Pee-wee Herman) Reubens, teaming up once again with Lynne Marie Stewart (Miss Yvonne from the “Playhouse”) for a sidesplitting take on “Butterflies Are Free”?

When it comes to unrecognizable, Jennifer Coolidge, fresh from her Broadway run in “The Women,” sports a sky-high beehive and troweled-on makeup for her turn in “The Glass Menagerie.” No, she’s not playing Amanda but a hilariously hard-bitten Laura. Just don’t mess with her unicorn.

Perky Beverly Winwood (Susan Yeagley), resplendent in a platinum pageboy, gets things rolling with a few appropriately inane comments. Of course, this is one long in-joke, and the high concept occasionally wears thin. But this brief and delightfully inane outing, which will feature new scenes and new performers on a revolving basis, revels in delicious dreadfulness. So do we.

“Beverly Winwood Presents the Actor’s Showcase,” Groundling Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A. Mondays only, 8 p.m. Ends June 3. $10. (323) 934-9700. Running time: 1 hour.