Review: ‘The Invisible Play’ a light-hearted take on detachment

Poor Colin. An editor at an “existential publishing house,” he’s flown under the emotional radar most of his adult life, refusing to actually connect with anyone and denying the possibility of true love.

As a result, he has become invisible, and though he still occupies a desk in the middle of his former associates, they are oblivious to his existence. He has in fact joined an underground of the company’s “invisibles” who, like him, have faded away into a corporate limbo of the unseen. But if Colin can get his co-worker Fran -- the object of his unrequited ardor -- to fall in love with him, he may still be able to rejoin the ranks of the visible. However, since Fran can neither hear nor see him, that will prove no mean feat.

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Alex Dremann’s “The Invisible Play,” now in its West Coast premiere at Theatre of NOTE, is a sort of “No Exit” as written by Neil Simon, a light-hearted bagatelle that belabors its clever high concept a bit too reiteratively. (One suspects this is a one-act masquerading as a full-length play.) Despite that flaw, Dremann has rendered a mostly engaging comedy that examines modern society’s tendency toward detachment in wittily philosophical terms.

Although she has miscast a few of the subsidiary roles, director Amanda Weier elicits solid comedic performances from Trevor H. Olsen as Colin and Jennifer Flack as Fran, two anguished loners who cannot admit the possibility of true love. Kirsten Vangsness is formidably quirky as Ramona, the “invisible” who will eventually win Colin’s heart. In a droll drag turn as a boozy female romance novelist, Joel Scher steals focus every time he’s on stage -- although one does wonder why his particular character is played in drag when all the others seem cast in a more realistic context.

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“The Invisible Play,” Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 21. $25. (323) 856-8611. www.theatreofnote.com. Running time: 2 hours.