Hitch your wagon to a know-it-all

When the forces of classicism meet the onward march of modernism, the collision can be messy. “The Last Word ...” Oren Safdie’s sad and gentle world-premiere comedy at the Malibu Stage, revolves around just such a clash of opposing ideas.

The play’s protagonist is Henry Grunwald (Daniel J. Travanti), a Viennese Jew who fled the Nazis and became a successful New York advertising executive. Now retired and nearly blind, Henry is determined to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a playwright. When young Len Artz (Peter Smith), also an aspiring playwright, applies for a position as Henry’s assistant, their job interview quickly expands into a fierce and acrimonious intellectual debate, with Henry as the avid advocate of Eurocentrism, and Len as the impassioned defender of experimentalism.

Safdie’s “Private Jokes, Public Places,” a mordant piece in which a young architectural candidate’s radical final project roils the sensibilities of her narrow-minded professors, also dealt with the clash of freewheeling youth against a hidebound establishment. In the two-character “Word,” the concept has been boiled down to a far more simplistic dialectic, but the thematic thrust is roughly the same.

From “All About Eve” to “Collected Stories,” the dynamic of an older mentor whose relationship with a younger acolyte spirals out of control has been a favorite subject. Here, however, Len has no nefarious agenda. He’s simply a captive audience trapped into listening to the extremely opinionated Henry’s ongoing rant -- a spate of verbiage that, initially at least, threatens to wear thin.

Given a lesser performance, Henry could have seemed irritatingly long-winded. However, despite the fact that he is too young for the role, Travanti gives a thoughtful and balanced portrayal that captures the mortal dread under Henry’s obnoxious certainty. Len’s progression from passivity to indignation is also neatly accomplished by Smith. And Safdie, directing his own work, keeps the action crisply paced, largely ameliorating the unbalanced leisureliness of the early scenes.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“The Last Word ...” Malibu Stage Company, 29243 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 31. $20-$25. (310) 589-1998. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

*

Death near the border

Ripe pertinence accompanies “14” in its Los Angeles premiere by East L.A. Rep at La Casa Del Mexicano. Playwright Jose Casas explores America’s white/Latino divide with a remarkable voice and evenhanded vision.

Inspired by the deaths of 14 Mexican nationals outside of Yuma, Ariz., in 2001, “14” echoes the contours of Anna Deavere Smith’s docudramas. Drawing from interviews, received accounts and his imagination, Casas presents 15 monologues in a crosshatched picture of uneasy coexistence.

There is the Scottsdale jewelry dealer who denies her prejudice while exhibiting it. An aspiring Hollywood actor defiantly Anglicizes his last name. His Mexican American government counterpart belittles immigrants who refuse to learn English. A Bosnian E.R. doctor in Tucson bemoans the extent of oppression, while a compassionate border patroller reveals his humanity.

Most astonishing are two Spanish-language monologues, delivered without translation. A domestic viewing the lavish homes from her patch of gravel and a day laborer haunting Home Depot in hopes of employment crystallize the communication gap beyond the power of polemic.

Director Jesus A. Reyes resourcefully places us on stage, overshadowed by Emmanuel Hernandez’s projections, with a trashcan inscribed “agua” situated outside the barbed-wire fence at the apron. This instantly personalizes the situation, as do the brilliant actors. Brenda Banda, Juan E. Carrillo, Rainey K. Taylor and Seph Wise bring each character to vivid life in fearless proximity to their audience.

Casas brings up issues beyond immigration, and his compressed structure slightly impedes their impact. Still, though a longer format might benefit the big picture, the striking power of this heartfelt tract is undeniable.

-- David C. Nichols

“14,” La Casa del Mexicano, 2900 Calle Pedro Infante, L.A. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays. Dark July 22. Ends July 31. $12. (323) 788-3880 or www.eastlarep.com. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

*

Four forays into the ‘Cool Dark’

Padua Playwrights unveils a quartet of characteristically elliptical one-acts by a new generation of writers in an anthology titled “In the Cool Dark.”

In the dark is where literal-minded viewers may find themselves during much of this edgy, confrontational material. Seeking a new language for contemporary experience, these emerging voices handle unsettling weirdness with varying levels of skill.

The most successful entry, Shawna Casey’s “The Aegean,” features Casey as a lonely cruise ship passenger who exchanges close-kept confidences with a world-weary traveler (John Horn).

Her romanticized associations with the Aegean Sea clash with the stranger’s jaded cynicism. Under Jack Kehler’s tight direction, their respective hopes and demons emerge in metaphorical imagery rather than biographical detail.

The remaining trio of plays, directed by their respective authors, depict abstractions rather than people as they explore the darkness at the heart of American culture.

Psychosexual obsessions erupt in Sharon Yablon’s “The Party,” as a pair of dysfunctional heiress sisters (Dana Wieluns, Mary C. Greening) play host to a rootless nymphomaniac (Tamar Fortgang) and a naive waif (Kim Debus) whose callous boyfriend (Gill Gayle) drives her into the clutches of a predatory lesbian (Sarah Diehl).

In Wesley Walker’s creepy “Temple Dog,” a young man (Andy Hopper) and his menacing older companion (Gray Palmer) tour L.A. crime scenes and enter an Asian temple where they encounter a sardonic spirit (Mari Ueda), with bloody consequences.

“The Wasps,” Guy Zimmerman’s pointedly political parody, finds pampered, ditzy twins Jenna and Barbara (Annie Weirich, Niamh McCormally) on a surreal road trip through a wasteland of exhausted oil supplies and depleted natural resources.

Without the reference points of traditional theater, the dividing line between evocative mystery and impenetrable tedium can be very thin indeed.

-- Philip Brandes

“In the Cool Dark: Short Plays by Padua Playwrights,” Lillian Theatre, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Ends July 31. $20. (323) 692-2652 or www.paduaplaywrights.com. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.