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Low Hanging Fruit

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman

Zephyr Theatre

Through October 26.

The plight of homeless women veterans is a story that needs to be told, not once but many times. In Low Hanging Fruit, playwright Robin Bradford makes that story her aim, but her script has been rushed to the stage too soon.

Directed by Lee Sankowich, the play is set at a homeless encampment in downtown Los Angeles, where four women vets have banded together in a space they collectively refer to as the Taj Mahal. Each woman wrestles with one or more consequences from her tour of duty – an alienated child, the after-effects of rape and/or assault by a fellow soldier, nightmares brought on by the sound of aircraft or the recollection of terror and carnage. Despite their impoverishment, these women prefer to enact their personal battles on the streets, rather than submit to the grinding and humiliating bureaucracy of government assistance.

The play’s trigger event is the arrival at their camp of Canyon (Christina Wren) a teen runaway whose presence divides the group. Cory (Terasa Sciortino), a haunted woman whose swagger can’t mask her pain, is eager to offer shelter. But Maya (Lola Anthony), an angry wordsmith, and Alice (Cheri Lynne VandenHeuvel), the group’s wary leader, mistrust the girl and fear her discovery by outside authorities will backfire and sabotage their little setup. The fourth woman, Yolanda (Chanda Hartman) – the high earner among them because she tricks for slimy pimp Tito (Ben Cain) – sides with Cory. In the end, Canyon stays, serving as the prompt for the recounting of past personal crises and the provoking of quarrels among the others.

One of the problems with the play is how randomly these events and quarrels pop up. Watching it, one’s aware of the writer’s two-fold purpose: to edify the audience and to move her story along. Less didactic than the most egregious message vehicles, the plot’s mechanics are nonetheless too visible. This is especially true of the multiple catharses in Act 2.

These issues are made more pronounced by the portrayals. As ex-soldiers, the performers just aren’t convincing, though they try hard. Wren’s cryptic adolescent is on point, however, and as the flamboyant Yolanda, a focused Hartman infuses a much needed element of humor to the grim goings-on.

Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Avenue, Hlywd; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through October 26. (323) 960-7788, www.plays411.com/low