A slinky ‘Dance’ of the sexes

Full of pith and vinegar, “Modern Dance for Beginners,” Sarah Phelps’ sophisticated comedy at the Little Victory Theatre, captures the lubricious desperation of attractive young people who look for love in all the wrong places.

Originally produced in London, this U.S. premiere is the second outing for VS. Theatre Company, whose debut production of “The Credeaux Canvas” was a thoughtful examination of a young artist’s wasted sacrifices in the service of a mediocre talent. The characters in “Modern Dance” serve no such vaulting aesthetic; indeed, they are ordinary individuals made extraordinary only by the complications of their loosely connected boudoir antics. Call this an abbreviated “La Ronde,” with more laughs.

Johnny Clark and Robyn Cohen play the various characters, beginning with confused groom Owen and his jilted lover, Frances, whose confrontation on the day of Owen’s wedding is the jumping-off point for a tangled snarl of sexual interactions -- between Owen’s frustrated new wife and her handsome handyman, between Frances and her just-for-sex lover, between Owen and an anonymous pickup, and between Frances’ overbearing boss and his oncologist girlfriend.

Sex and the talk of sex -- frank and sometimes frantic -- is the business of the evening, and Phelps finesses the mattress maneuvers and pillow talk with sparkling wit. But rude mortality ultimately casts a pall -- somewhat obviously -- on these hectic pairings. Indeed, a few of the story’s belabored turns are uncomfortably reminiscent of the cliffhanging “twists” that lead into a commercial break.

Fortunately, in his finely tuned staging, Ross Kramer keeps the action meticulously realistic, while the impressively truthful Clark and Cohen handle their various characters with understated panache. To be sure, Cohen’s slightly nasal twang is an occasional deficit, but she’s one of the best stage listeners in memory -- and that is no faint praise.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Modern Dance for Beginners,” Little Victory Theatre, 3324 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 12. $20. (323) 850-6045. www.thevictorytheatrecen ter.org. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

*

Ma has a ‘Gift’ for bad behavior

“I don’t know how to act around people,” stammers Charlie (Michael Petted), the lumbering, shaggy-haired young man of the house in David Steen’s bleak, affecting “A Gift From Heaven.”

Charlie might be speaking for everyone onstage: No one in this isolated, hardscrabble shack in the hills of North Carolina seems to know quite how to behave. If they’re not halting, faltering or stamping like nervous horses, the occupants of this mood-swinging household are testing limits, each other’s and their own. Since no one wears more than a single layer of clothing in the dusty Appalachian heat, it’s hardly unexpected when they act out their pent-up needs and frustrations on each other’s bodies.

Ruling this sad roost is the severe, witchy Ma (Beth Grant), whose routine consists of berating her coltish adopted daughter Messy (Tara Buck) and cowed son Charlie with threats and “Jesus dust,” a key ingredient in her own eerie, homespun version of Pentecostalism.

When orphaned cousin Anna (Tara Killian) comes a-calling, Ma alternates between simpering sycophancy -- since Anna has links to a moneyed branch of the family tree -- and chilling tantrums that keep everyone off-balance.

Under Jim Holmes’ sculpted, unhurried direction, the play’s stubborn rhythms and roiling subtext get their full due, with bracing jolts of humor and horror jabbing out like bony fingers. We can practically smell the rot on Victoria Profitt’s wood-slat set, under the cheerless warmth of J. Kent Inasy’s lights.

We can no more blame these folks for craving escape than for doin’ what comes naturally.

-- Rob Kendt

“A Gift From Heaven,” Camelot Artists at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, 254 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 19. $35. (310) 358-9936. www.camelotartists.com. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

*

‘Basic Training’ for a life of awareness

After growing up in a nomadic military household, nascent comedian Kahlil Ashanti joined the Air Force in 1992. The night before he left for boot camp, Ashanti’s mother made a startlingly casual confession about his father. The implications haunted Ashanti’s passage from beleaguered grunt to Air Force Worldwide Talent Contest champion and member of the elite Tops in Blue entertainment corps.

That worldwide tour led to discovered identity and “Basic Training,” now at the 2nd Stage Theatre. A runaway hit at this year’s Montreal and Vancouver fringe festivals, Ashanti’s solo saga of self-realization makes a surefire showcase for its star.

Ashanti has drawn comparisons to Whoopi Goldberg, but his liquid mug, stand-up chops, emotional energy and physical courage as often suggest the emerging John Leguizamo, spinning among 23 characters.

Standout portraits include Ashanti’s ethereal mother and abusive dad, his scandalously obscene drill instructor, a fellow enlistee with Tourette’s syndrome and a Tops in Blue colleague.

Nick DeGruccio’s elegant direction provides a nuanced frame. Stephanie Kerley-Schwartz’s setting of translucent panels, Steven Young’s lush lighting and Drew Dalzell’s sound give top-drawer support.

Whether the un-P.C. uproar and unabashed uplift equate theatrical breakthrough is debatable. Ashanti’s wholehearted narrative history just misses the revelation of self that would supply universal reach. Still, veterans, aspiring artists and viewers with father issues will devour “Basic Training.”

-- David C. Nichols

“Basic Training,” 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 5. Mature audiences. $20. (323) 960-7612 or www.plays411.com/ basictraining. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

*

‘2 ACROSS’: Meet cute, synonym

Jerry Mayer doesn’t try to change the world in “2 ACROSS,” his gentle new romantic comedy at the Santa Monica Playhouse. He does strive to entertain, and he succeeds in that aim, admirably.

A veteran writer for the stage and small screen, Mayer keeps his story structure straightforward and his sentiments sweet throughout his deceptively simple tale. Set on a BART commuter train, well-realized in Scott Heineman’s convincingly authentic set, the play takes place roughly in real time -- the length of the trip from the San Francisco Airport to the East Bay.

It’s 4 a.m., and the train car is occupied by two sole passengers who, on the surface at least, have nothing in common except their penchant for crosswords. Janet (Sandra Kerns, double cast in the role with Susan Cash) is a “bean-counting” psychologist who takes pride in completing every crossword she starts. Freewheeling, unemployed Josh (Steve Vinovich, alternating with Kip Gilman) views crosswords as a diversion, to be lightly tossed aside as soon as the clues get difficult.

In Mayer’s microcosm, crosswords serve not only as an icebreaker but as a neat indicator of the characters’ conflicting personalities. Of course, in this case, opposites attract, with salubrious if somewhat predictable results.

If that sounds like a rudimentary premise, it is -- but it is sufficient to sustain the weight of Mayer’s charming, character-driven comedy, which is marred only by a “surprise” ending that strains credibility. Overlook that shortcoming, however, and you will appreciate the simple pleasures of Deborah Harmon’s comically well-timed staging and two undemonstrative yet heartfelt performances. Vinovich is geniality personified as Josh, a Peter Pan yearning for stability, while Kerns blossoms as a buttoned-down Marian the Librarian ready to let her hair down. These seasoned actors take full advantage of their dramatic opportunities, delightfully so.

-- F.K.F.

“2 ACROSS,” Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Fridays, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays, 6 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 19. $25. (800) 863-7785. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

*

Bruises left by ‘Kith and Kin’

“It’s just awful to lose a loved one you didn’t love,” says ex-hired girl Sarah. She refers to her dead husband, but the just-deceased employer who likely fathered her impending child also qualifies. So do his three sons, reluctantly reunited in Dangerfield, Texas. The youngest, Tommy Joe, still at home and miming to Van Cliburn records, remains a target of belittlement for Darryl, his sexually bullying older brother.

Their travails only triple with the arrival of the other brother and Darryl survivor known as Big Boots. A paroled wife-killer, Big Boots faces a fraternal custody battle over his son, Little Boots. Adding yeast to the internecine snarl is Charlene, whose promiscuous history with all three brothers imperils her tenuous sobriety, though never her tart observations.

This struggle between blood ties and breaking the cycle sustains “Kith and Kin” at the Hudson Guild Theatre. In its belated L.A. premiere, the late Oliver Hailey’s truculent 1986 comedy carries simmering rage beneath the audacious regional howlers. Although Hailey overplays his expositional hand, his singular voice deflects its Southern gothic excesses with brazen wit and bruised feeling.

Director Matt Kelley’s laconic players expertly embody those qualities. As Tommy Joe, Nathan Brooks Burgess is sensitive and sardonic, like Jeff Kerr McGivney’s slow-burn Darryl and Drake Simpson’s raw-boned Big Boots, recalling numerous Larry McMurtry misfits. Kara Greenberg (Charlene) and Dawn Burgess (Sarah), cast against obvious type, cut to the scene-stealing bone.

Designs are spare, with Kevin Holden’s set underdressed, but they serve, as does this specialized yet satisfying immorality play.

-- D.C.N.

“Kith and Kin,” Hudson Guild Theatre, 6543 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 18. Mature audiences. $20. (323) 960-7753 or www.plays411.com/kak. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

*

Countercultural ‘Freedomland’

Amy Freed’s “Freedomland,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist, is only 7 years old, but already it’s getting the kind of actor-showcase production typically reserved for routine desecrations of the works of Shepard or Shanley.

Based on this misbegotten rendition, one might wonder at the tastes of the Pulitzer committee. Even in its sleek 1997 production at South Coast Repertory, Freed’s freewheeling family dramedy played like a post-hippie “Heartbreak House” -- an often witty, occasionally insightful look at millennial malaise among the overeducated that was as offhandedly engaging as it was unmemorably slight.

When Noah (Bill Dearth), who’s a bit of a cross between Ken Kesey and Papa Hemingway, welcomes his three adult children back home for a weekend of bickering, bonding and assorted sortings-out, the gathering builds to a contrived confrontation between the old man and son Seth (Scott Brady), who represents the misdirected frustration of a generation raised in countercultural confusion.

Some of Freed’s intergenerational comedy of missed connections comes through. But under David Barry’s direction, no one onstage seems to quite know what they’re saying, or exhibits any sense of what makes these smart, quirky people tick, let alone tick each other off.

-- R.K.

“Freedomland,” 3KO Broadway Theatre Company at Sidewalk Studio Theatre, 4150 Riverside Drive, Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Dec. 18. (No performances Thanksgiving weekend.) $15. (818) 685-9939. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.