Vogel’s women on the verge

Riffing on Shakespeare in “Desdemona,” playwright Paula Vogel depicts Othello’s wife as a liberated woman who clandestinely swaps places with a local prostitute. Not only does this spice up her sex life, it also gives her a sense of control over her body -- and destiny -- in a male-dominated world.

Similarly, an underage Maryland teen in Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive” thinks she’s in command of the playfully amorous relationship between herself and her older, married uncle.

But is either woman really in control? Desdemona seems headed toward the same grim fate as in Shakespeare’s play: to be murdered by her abusive husband. And the young protagonist of “Drive” is robbed of a thousand things she hasn’t yet learned to value.

Such overlaps in Vogel’s offbeat but deeply humane plays are especially noticeable as Infinite Nutshell Productions, Shire Entertainment and the Attic Theatre Ensemble present the lesser-known “Desdemona” in Los Angeles and the Hunger Artists Theatre Company performs “How I Learned to Drive,” the writer’s best-known work, in Fullerton.

In the first moments of “Desdemona,” the title character’s servant, Emilia, happens upon the key prop in Shakespeare’s play: a handkerchief that was Othello’s gift to Desdemona. Emilia will give it to her husband, the bitter, plotting Iago, who will use it to poison Othello’s mind with thoughts of cuckoldry.

Alone with each other all day, Desdemona and Emilia share dreams of emotional emancipation. But sisterhood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. First Emilia, then the prostitute Bianca turn on Desdemona, inadvertently propelling her fate.

Vogel comically mixes faux Shakespeare with present-day vernacular, a duality echoed in the set (by Dana Moran Williams), with its mix of such elements as an old-time washtub and a modern washing machine, and costumes (David H. Ferguson).

The production, directed by Karesa McElheny, is as funny as it is provocative. Harmony Goodman’s Desdemona is a spoiled little rich girl; Amanda Karr’s Emilia delivers low-level comic relief even as she faces a complex moral dilemma; and Thia Stephan’s Bianca is a flashy, free-and-easy type who secretly dreams of being proper and respectable.

In Fullerton, “How I Learned to Drive” gets a less professionally assured but no less deeply committed presentation than it received at the Mark Taper Forum in 1999.

Jessica Aldridge -- portraying the protagonist, nicknamed Li’l Bit -- speaks directly to the audience in an open, disarmingly sunny manner before slipping back in time to relive driving lessons with Jay Michael Fraley’s Uncle Peck, a seemingly innocent activity that covered a dangerous game of peekaboo.

Uncle Peck tells Li’l Bit that, when holding a steering wheel, “your life is in your own two hands.” Yet in Sharyn Case’s staging, he undercuts that message each time he lets his own hands linger on her body.

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Paula Vogel plays

What: “Desdemona”

Where: Attic Theatre, 5429 W. Washington Blvd., L.A.

When: Thursdays to Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m.

Ends: March 14

Price: $20

Contact: (323) 525-0600, Ext. 2#

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

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Also

What: “How I Learned to Drive”

Where: Hunger Artists, 699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton

When: Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Also March 8, 8 p.m.

Ends: March 14

Price: $15

Contact: (714) 680-6803

Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes