THEATER BEAT

Writer and performer Randy Sean Schulman is the strong, silent type. His idiosyncratic fusion of physical comedy, silent screen-era tropes and music renders words superfluous in his latest piece: “Luminous Birch: And the Splendor of the Colorless Light of Emptiness.”

The third in a series of hybrid projected film-live performance works that included “Infinity” and “La Gioconda,” “Luminous Birch” is a meditation on love, obsession and rebirth depicted as a journey through the unconscious.

An introductory movie evokes the black-and-white era of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as hobo-hero Luminous Birch (Schulman) spies the fair Tangerine (Delcie Adams) languishing on the seashore, where she’s abducted by a sinister Absurd Conquistador (Roy Johns) and his comely band of Neuro Nymphs.

Making excellent use of the Greenway Court Theatre space, Schulman and co-director Jane McEneaney employ ingenious visual techniques to merge film and stage as Birch emerges from a slit in the screen and begins to interact with the cinematic imagery.

A little of this goes a long way, however. The piece could safely be trimmed to half its length. Endless mannered posturing amid ocean vistas puts the movie portion dangerously close to film-student project territory. The minimalist plot may resonate with anyone whose true love has been kidnapped by demonic clowns, but for others, even the most impressive stylistic invention can drag under the weight of a nonstop barrage of symbolically charged imagery.

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Philip Brandes --

“Luminous Birch,” Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays (dark May 8). Ends May 10. $20. (323) 655-7679, Ext. 100. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

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Neighborhood theater indeed

“Four houses. Four neighborhoods. Four weekends.” In case you’re confused, take note: “Family Planning” isn’t your average show, staged in your average theater. On the contrary, Julia Edwards’ comedy-drama, a remounting of Chalk Repertory Theatre’s 2008 production, has been staged in not one but four private residences. Opening weekend started off in Sherman Oaks. Next weekend, “Planning” will move to a home in North Hollywood, then Hollywood, before finally closing in Pasadena.

In the Sherman Oaks staging, audience members were seated around the perimeter of an adequately sized but by no means baronial living room. Chairs held programs, some white, some blue. At certain points in the play, the audience migrated en masse (30 or so of us) from the living room into the nearby kitchen. At one point the audience -- and the action -- was split in two, as the half of the audience with blue programs toddled off to the kitchen while the remainder stayed behind.

If this sounds like a gimmick, be assured it isn’t. “Planning” is a voyeuristic glimpse into one couple’s meltdown that is as funny as it is ultimately wrenching.

Unemployed Hamish (David Heckel) quit his high-flying finance job months ago and is still in the grip of a breakdown. Four consecutive miscarriages have made his wife, Olivia (Alina Phelan), obsessively focused on reproducing. After various pricey fertility treatments, tonight’s the night. But, no cheap pun intended, Olivia’s best-laid plans go seriously awry with the unanticipated arrivals of Hamish’s rowdy old pal Rosen (David Ari), his much-younger girlfriend, Jilly (Elia Saldana), and Hamish’s meddlesome mother, Greta (Danielle Kennedy).

Edwards’ sitcom simplistic plot yields rich opportunities for director Larissa Kokernot and her passionately committed actors. So, ultimately, does Edwards’ play. Just when it all seems likely to end on a feel-good note, Edwards twists things, shattering our expectations and touching our hearts.

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F. Kathleen Foley --

“Family Planning,” 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 26. Performances are held in four Los Angeles area homes, locations provided at time of ticket purchase. $25. (800) 838-3006. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

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They’ve lost loved ones in Iraq

“Survived” at the Powerhouse Theatre is not so much a play as it is an immersion. Playwright and director Tom Burmester and his associates at the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble are intent upon refocusing attention on the Iraq war at a time when the global economic crisis rules the media. And they clearly intend the result to be as urgent and immediate as a telegram from the War Department.

The play, co-directed by Danika Sudik, is the second offering in the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble’s “War Cycle,” which began with “Wounded,” based on Burmester’s interviews with American soldiers who had been injured in the line of duty. “Survived” highlights the plight of those who have lost their loved ones in the war.

Burmester has again based his play on personal interviews, but he also credits his company members with the development of the piece.

The taut and nicely rendered first act introduces us to the Harper family some months after their Marine son, Michael, has been killed in the line of duty. There’s deceptively chipper dad Sam (James W. Sudik), adamantine mom Lilith (Dee Amerio Sudik), little sis Dina (Jen Bailey) and brother Ariel (Trevor Algatt, alternating with Michael Pappas), all of them desperate to maintain the simulacrum of an uninterrupted life. Longing to escape the family’s cloying expectations, Michael’s young widow Sophia (Melissa Collins) seeks distraction with a new lover (Albert Meijer), but the revelation of her “infidelity” sends her in-laws into turmoil. But the most shattering revelation comes from Sgt. Taylor (Jonathan Redding), the mysterious comrade of the deceased, who is on a mission of personal expiation.

Among the heartfelt but uneven cast, the wonderful Redding is most memorable as the haunted Sgt. Taylor. Sadly, the dialogue often descends into jargon and the prevalent anguish is so effulgent that it loses its effect. That’s a shame, because although the production is guilty of exaggeration, the core message of “Survived” cannot be overemphasized.

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F. Kathleen Foley --

“Survived,” Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Ends April 25. $25. (800) 595-4849. Running time: 2 hours.

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‘Median’ is much promise not met

Noteworthy promise leaps around “Jumping the Median” at the Santa Monica Playhouse’s Other Space. Acclaimed slam poet Steve Connell’s quartet of one-acts has its variables, but essential ability isn’t among them.

Co-directed by Connell and Emily Weisberg, “Median” features resourceful designers and versatile performers. The most incisive work is “Us and Them,” a Pirandello-flavored study of relationships that ends the evening. One optimistic pair (Sarah Sido and Tyler Moore) is starting out; the other (Elizabeth Maxwell and In-Q) is at the end of its disillusioned road. Strongly acted, unfolding in intertwined perspectives from the same apartment, Connell’s writing delivers edgy insight about modern coupling. Its main flaw is a too-limited scope -- both the narrative conceit and societal overview warrant expansion.

The clear crowd-pleaser is “Love Thy Neighbors,” which drop-kicks the House of Laius into retro family sitcom. More in-joke-ridden sketch than meaningful play, the piece is still wacky fun in its Christopher Durang-cribs-from-Woody Allen way. Sido and Kevin Larsen are fervently funny as the hostess and her enervated son. Among their raucous colleagues, Ida Darvish and Moore make effectively over-the-top Grecian counterparts, while Greg Crooks and Mike Wood have a ham’s holiday as Khor and Hus.

Less convincing is the title playlet, a two-hander about a long-term park-bench courtship between Connell and Darvish that, despite their conviction, tells us nothing we haven’t heard before. “All Fall Up” is inconclusive in its examination of an insomniac’s (Crooks) dreams, though it might work as an outright monologue.

At the reviewed performance, cast member Joe Sanfelippo was out as “Neighbors’ ” Laius and “Up’s” Man, with Connell creditably subbing for him. Jessie Sherman and Brent Tonick complete the energetic roster for a ripe showcase of talent, though it only intermittently succeeds theatrically.

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David C. Nichols --

“Jumping the Median,” Other Space, Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 19. $20. (562) 547-6207. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.