‘Cave Quest’ by East West Players; ‘On Caring for the Beast’ by Cornerstone Theatre Company

Les Thomas’ “Cave Quest” is high concept -- i.e., Himalayan. The light but appealing new comedy, presented by East West Players at the Union Center for the Arts, is “The Odd Couple” at 14,000 feet.

Video game designer Justin (West Liang) has dragged himself around the world in search of legendary Buddhist nun Padma (Kim Miyori), rumored to be in deep seclusion. He crashes her meditation pad, a rocky Nepalese cave inside the world’s highest peaks.

Justin’s goals, however, are more entrepreneurial than mind-expanding: He wants to design a game that will bring players inner peace, for a mere $49.99. He’s come to collect a few of Padma’s spiritual secrets; not much, you know, “just the bullet points of enlightenment.”

Cue a comic showdown within the confines of Padma’s chilly retreat, intriguingly realized by designer John Iacovelli. Knotty muslin layers resemble a giant animal hide stretched across the set’s visible scaffolding. This rough-hewn home is surrounded by gleaming white cliffs, suggesting a vast mountain range.

“Wow,” Justin says, staring out at the view: “It’s like real Imax.”

With a blizzard raging outside, Padma can’t throw the interloper out, so they sit down for tea and the play’s core debate: Is Justin’s game a crass shortcut to nirvana, or does it offer the reclusive nun the chance to spread her message worldwide? (After all, she’s top-rated on HardcoreBuddhist.com.)

Thomas has a lot of fun pitching Justin’s ADHD energy at Padma’s preternatural calm. The serene nun hasn’t spoken in three years; the longest Justin’s ever shut up is 20 minutes. Barking at his partner via satellite phone and frantically popping pain pills, Liang’s Justin is a postmodern baby tangled in pharmaceutical and technological umbilical cords.

Meanwhile, Miyori’s Padma, moving gracefully in her scarlet robes, conveys the elegance of a woman who has refused every addiction of ostensibly civilized life.

Full-throttle stress is a job requirement, Justin explains. If he doesn’t multi-task until all hours, some upstart will. This nice moment of self-awareness almost pushes the play into a larger critique of our anxious, workaholic culture that wonders why it craves tranquillity.

“Cave Quest” doesn’t fully mine the potential, comic or dramatic, of its premise. We learn that Padma started out as Ruby from Fresno, but it’s never clear why she took such a radical departure from her upbringing.

For the most part, director Diane Rodriguez smartly tracks this burgeoning relationship, and throws in a surprise or two that keeps the audience guessing. Liang and Miyori are a well-matched pleasure, even when the play lets them get a little too mellow. “Cave Quest” may not have the answer to life, but it makes for a diverting field trip.

“Cave Quest,” Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 14. $25-$35. (213) 625-7000 or www.eastwest players.org. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

A harrowing adult journey

A man shocks himself with increasing voltage. A woman possessed by a spirit coughs up blood. A torturer carries the instrument he used to remove a dissident’s tongue. Can pain be revelatory? Can it be transcended? If so, at what cost? Those are the questions posed in writer-director Shishir Kurup’s ambitious if uneven new drama, “On Caring for the Beast,” at Inner-City Arts’ Rosenthal Theater.

In a Bay Area house, three struggles unfold: Landlady Mae (Page Leong) channels an ancient goddess; Charlie (Marcenus “MC” Earl) succumbs to a fatal disease as his lover, Art (Michael Cooke), watches helplessly; journalist Alissa (Bahni Turpin) becomes obsessed with her subject, a former interrogator (Amro Salama), despite the qualms of her boyfriend (Justin Gordon).

Despite such dark material, “Beast” is beautifully staged. Designers Shigeru Yaji (set), Tom Ontiveros (lights and video) and John Nobori (sound) work in impressive harmony. The set’s all-white furniture floats in the darkness of the Rosenthal black box, creating an eerie space where the physical and metaphysical seem to converge.

But while this Cornerstone Theater Company production creates an intense world -- “Beast” is for mature audiences only -- Kurup’s writing tries to cover too much. The face-off between the excellent Turpin and Salama would have been drama enough for one play. By including so many elements and ideas, Kurup loses focus, and the play’s sense of emotional truth. Despite their harrowing journeys, these characters never quite become real to us.

“On Caring for the Beast,” Inner-City Arts, 720 Kohler St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Feb. 28. $20 (on Wed-nesdays, pay what you can). www.cornerstonetheater .org. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.