Theater

The Skin of Our Teeth: Authentic ingenuity invigorates this production of Thornton Wilder’s visionary allegory on mankind’s cockeyed resilience. When “Skin” opened in 1942, Wilder’s jovial but firm antiwar sentiment hardly reflected the patriotic fervor of World War II America. Although the play earned Wilder his third Pulitzer Prize, its subversive structure divided contemporary observers. Director Stefan Novinski honors Wilder’s avant-garde spirit by drop-kicking it into the 21st century from hysterical, Barbie-doll- propelled opening to affecting, postmodernist finale.

-- David C. Nichols

Ends Sunday at the Evidence Room, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A. (213) 381-7118.