THEATER BEAT

Sometimes even a village can’t raise a child. In “Stray,” co-produced by Black Dahlia Theatre and Chalk Repertory Theatre Company, playwright Ruth McKee looks past the feel-good glamour of international adoption and finds plenty of loneliness.

Working in a Ugandan AIDS clinic, ophthalmologist James (Matt Gaydos) falls for free-spirited Rachel (Analies Lorig), a white Kenyan. They adopt an orphan, Daniel, and bring him to the U.S. for the supposed better life. But memories of his family’s murder torment the young boy, and soon he’s acting up in school, much to the consternation of his teacher (Jennifer Chang), the evenhanded principal (Angela Bullock) and a child psychologist (Eileen Galindo).

Parents, teacher, principal, therapist: McKee dispassionately observes how each of these adult authority figures fails to help Daniel emerge from his private hell. By keeping him offstage, she places the focus squarely on how adult desire, always rationalized, displaces a child’s basic needs; Daniel is literally invisible.

On Tom Ontiveros’ stark black set featuring two playground swings, director Larissa Kokernet keeps her able cast on pace (Galindo is particularly good). But the play feels constricted -- nearly every scene is between two people -- and McKee never delivers the dramatic punch that would give the story genuine force. Still, as a portrait of the crucible that is parenthood, “Stray” troubles indeed.

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Charlotte Stoudt --

“Stray,” Black Dahlia Theatre, 5453 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. Dark Halloween; performance rescheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18. Ends Nov. 22. $25. Contact: (800) 838-3006 or www.thedahlia.com or www.chalkrep.com. Running time: 2 hours.

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Inside Lincoln’s Oval Office

Based on a little-known historical incident, Wayne Peter Liebman’s “Better Angels,” now in its West Coast premiere at the Colony, is a scrupulously researched and respectful drama that appropriately honors the Lincoln bicentennial. As far as vibrant new theater goes, however, the play is a tad rusty.

In Victoria Profitt’s strangely rudimentary scenic design, a backdrop of vari-colored mountains’ majesty sets off Lincoln’s sparsely furnished White House office. Seen at the height of his war presidency, a beleaguered Lincoln (James Read) receives a visit from Cordelia Harvey (McKerrin Kelly), the recently widowed wife of Wisconsin’s governor, who petitions Lincoln to approve a Northern hospital for the war wounded.

Seen in both 1909 and 1863, Lincoln’s loyal amanuensis and later biographer, John Hay (David Dean Bottrell), serves as on-the-spot observer and retrospective narrator of the ongoing discussion between the president and Mrs. Harvey, a charged dialectic underscored by an unspoken romantic frisson.

The actors are all winning, particularly Read, whose fittingly folksy Lincoln has just the right touch of poignant cerebrality.

But director Dan Bonnell too often mistakes stiffness for period reserve, and despite Liebman’s almost religious observance of actual historical records, anachronisms do creep in. The scholarly Hay’s line, “It is not me you need to convince,” is particularly wince-worthy, and Lincoln’s failure to rise when Mrs. Harvey enters the room seems rudeness that no gentleman of the era would have countenanced, even in pique.

However, a final scene, in which Mrs. Harvey silently peruses Lincoln’s just-penned Gettysburg Address, is a moving moment that tugs our tears and leaves us with renewed appreciation for the sad, doomed man who preserved the Union. In stark contrast with what has come before, the moment offers a glimpse of dramatic opportunities left unrealized.

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F. Kathleen Foley --

“Better Angels,” Colony Theater, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Also 8 p.m. Nov. 12 and 19, and 3 p.m. Oct. 31 and Nov. 7. (No 8 p.m. performance Oct. 31.) $37-$42. (818) 558-7000, Ext. 15. www.colonytheatre.org. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

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Abridged ‘Crime and Punishment’

Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” is both a gripping thriller and a major doorstop. Now at A Noise Within, you can polish off this dense classic in less time than it takes to clear downtown L.A. at rush hour. Condensing 600 pages of Slavic nihilism into 80 minutes is a feat, but adaptors Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus very nearly capture the roiling soul of this 1886 masterpiece.

On Michael Smith’s two-tiered wooden set featuring a shabby chaise lounge and a rickety flight of stairs, two relationships play out: An inspector (Robertson Dean) investigating a brutal murder plays cat and mouse with prime suspect Raskolnikov (Michael A. Newcomer), who finds himself drawn to the quiet strength of a prostitute (Holly Hawkins).

Craig Belknap’s spare production doesn’t always trust its own power -- the period music cues distract rather than enhance -- but his trio of performers draw us in. Newcomer especially compels as the would-be ubermensch who cannot escape his humanity. “Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience,” observed Dostoyevsky, “but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.” Raskolnikov’s story mines that truth like no other.

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Charlotte Stoudt --

“Crime and Punishment,” A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. 8 p.m. Dec. 16, Dec. 17, Nov. 20; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Nov. 21 and Dec. 5; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 13. Ends Dec. 17. $40-$44. Contact: (818) 240-0910 or www.anoisewithin.org. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

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Elderly couple meets an ex-con

There comes a time when impassioned discussions of philosophy, art, morality and other lofty themes give way to more mature topics -- namely, kvetching about ailments.

Negotiating that stage of life in an unexpected -- and downright felonious -- manner is the premise of “Exit Strategy” at Burbank’s Falcon Theatre. Tailor-made for seasoned character actors, this slight dramedy/heist caper by Bill Semans and Roy M. Close demands supremely charismatic performances to overcome its formulaic limitations.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t get them from this cast of film and TV veterans.

Set in a down-at-heels Midwest rooming house one month away from the wrecking ball, the story centers on the two remaining residents, clinging to fading dreams as they face the prospect of eviction. Property manager Mae (Debra Mooney), a survivor of multiple marriages, would like another shot at love. James (James B. Sikking), a gay Broadway has-been and disgraced college instructor, yearns for his glory days in the footlights.

In the midst of this odd couple’s comfy, well-worn bickering arrives a mysterious new lodger, Alex (John C. Moskoff), whose nicely played charm and affability seem a bit too good to be true. Mooney’s Mae is an amiable if understated presence where a firecracker is needed, while Sikking seems unwilling to fully commit to the flamboyance of his character; his equivocation results in too many faltering line readings.

Turns out Alex is an ex-con bent on enlisting the elderly pair’s help in a burglary. The paltry $1,000 he offers won’t make a dent in their financial predicament, which is the play’s point (reiterated multiple times): It’s all about a shot at adventure at an age when life holds few opportunities.

The problem is, Alex only tips his hand at the end of the first act, after a meandering tour of failing libidos, prostates, bladders and other afflictions. Director Casey Stangl’s leisurely pacing only makes the predictable checklist more interminable. The sheer numbness we feel at the familiar specter of nursing home care and other indignities awaiting the elderly is the play’s most cutting -- if unintended -- indictment of our complacency and neglect.

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Philip Brandes --

“Exit Strategy,” Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends Nov. 15. $32.50-$40. (818) 955-8101. Running time: 2 hours. falcontheatre.com.