Meet and Greet

Reviewed by Paul Birchall
Asylum Theatre — Elephant Space
Through Sept. 21

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Photo by Maia Rosenfeld

Here’s a play that’s often so mean-spirited, you almost feel bad about laughing while watching it. But, really, playwrights Stan Zimmerman and Christian McLaughlin’s ferociously vituperative tour de force is so funny, you won’t be able to help yourself.  Zimmerman and McLaughlin are old sitcom hands, having penned episodes variously of The Golden Girls, Married With Children, Roseanne, and Hannah Montana. But they are also stage pros as well, and their sprightly venomous work is a delight.

Admitttedly, the piece’s sitcom structure is at first a put off – but the seeming ease of the quick witted give-and-take actually belies a striking thematic heft at its core:  This is a work, it turns out, about the plight of women in the TV business, and the assured glibness masks a surprisingly touching undercurrent of irony and affection for characters who could easily be disregarded as stereotypes.

The play is set in a San Fernando Valley casting office, where several actresses of a certain age have been summoned to read for a role in a new sitcom.  First to arrive is theatrical grande dame Margo (Carolyn Hennesy), who has won many Tonys, and has been told she’s a shoe-in for the part.  However, her career is in decline and she needs the TV gig for its stable cash supply.  She’s understandably appalled when she discovers that another actress arrives to audition -– and that actress is spacy, failed sitcom star Belinda (Vicki Lewis), a Joyce DeWitt-a-like whose life after her hit 90s series (drug addictions, yoga sessions, and Cinemax movies) has left her desperate for a comeback.

For her part, Belinda is dismayed when her arch rival Teri (Teresa Ganzel), the Susanne Somers-esque star of Belinda’s old show, shows up for the job as well.  And she’s followed by someone they all loathe – housecleaner-turned-reality-TV-star Deseree (a brilliant turn by Daniele Gaither, channeling NeNe from Housewives of Atlanta).  As the lusciously oily young casting assistant (Brandon Robinson) calls each actress into the executives’ office (between rolling calls from pals on Grindr), tensions between the women escalate -– particularly when they discover that the already cheesy script has been re-written and that their characters have been revised to be steadily more down-market.

As director, Zimmerman’s sense of comic timing is impeccable, and he does a fine job of setting up a situation in which all the auditioning actors will have someone tormenting them as they wait for their big chance. It’s sort of a No Exit in Tinseltown that actually rings horrifyingly true.  The pacing crackles feverishly — it’s almost as hot as the flames of the hellish San Fernando Valley setting. For fun, check out the gob-smacking mock TV show posters on the walls, including the one featuring Pamela Anderson as a gynecologist.  Brilliant!

Zimmerman and McLaughlin’s scabrously funny dialogue includes Margo’s bragging about having appeared in Medea (with the casting assistant replying gushingly: “And how great that Tyler Perry finally decided to allow a real woman to play the part!”) to Teri’s mind-numbing assortment of self-help products that she desperately hawks on QVC to remain relevant.

At the same time, the desperate hunger of these actresses –- forced by the inevitable march of time into having no choice but to humiliate themselves by appearing on a revolting TV show – is ultimately sympathetically depicted. The ensemble work is first rate.  Hennesy’s hilariously plummy, and easily debased “thespian” is a delight -– but so is Ganzel’s unexpectedly wise and peculiarly sad ex-bimbo Teri.  Robinson all but steals the show, though, with his gamine, Joel Grey-like turn as the leering, hilariously insincere casting assistant.

Asylum Theatre — Elephant Space, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through September 21.  theencoreawards.com/projects/1517?tab=tickets