Ammo

Lounge Theatre
Through June 28

Fierce Backbone

America’s corrosive love affair with deadly firearms is the theme of playwright Jeremy Kehoe’s uneven collection of four one acts.  Much like a game of Russian roulette, though, only one of the four theatrical bullets possesses the firepower necessary to blow our minds.

In “Florida,” Andrew Preston offers a genuinely harrowing turn as a vicious thug, serving a life sentence for murdering a woman, who spitefully tricks a handicapped young man into serving a life sentence of his own.  Preston’s matter of fact coldness as he portrays a sociopathic creep whom Nietzche would have taken out for coffee is wonderfully powerful.  Elsewhere, “Michigan” centers on a Priest (Holger Moncada, Jr., nicely brooding) desperately trying to negotiate the surrender of unhinged gunman Lewis (Drew McAuliffe), with tragic results.  Although this piece boasts some passionate acting, the situation is never entirely believable and the debate the characters engage in is forced and circular.  Director Jeffrey Wylie’s stiff and workmanlike direction does little to connect the other, slighter stories to any underlying emotion, and the pieces all too often descend into pedantic dogma.—Paul Birchall

Fierce Backbone at The Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd, https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1834?tab=tickets

The Last Remnants of Cops, Robbers and Hollywood Cowboys

The Complex
Through June 29

Paris Avenue Productions

There are about a gazillion stories to tell about Los Angeles, and while playwright Tom Cavanaugh’s collection of monologues aren’t the most compelling or exciting tales to tell, they certainly reflect the spirit of the Big Orange.  Kernels of awareness familiar to most Angelenos may be found within the pieces, even if many vignettes often feel bogged down by stereotypes and inertly rendered situations.

Best of the set is Tadamori Yagi’s delightful turn as a young Silver-Laker who frets over the fact that no one in self-absorbed Hell-A checks in on him after a calamity occurs in his apartment building.  Christopher D. Narrie offers a touching turn as a young Downtowner who embarks on an ultimately (and inevitably tragic) love affair with a homeless Skid Row waif. Laura Raynor, as a coffeehouse patron bumping into an old man who turns out to be a legendary Hollywood stunt man from cinema’s Golden Age, certainly conveys a bona fide Los Angeles sensibility.  Otherwise, the writing suffers from being more banal than the situations require – it doesn’t help that each monologue’s protagonist narrates his story, instead of dramatically living it, creating a flat, static mood that’s more Dead Zone than L.A.—Paul Birchall

Paris Avenue Productions at The Complex, 6706 Santa Monica Blvd, https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1605?

 These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com