The Tragedy: A Comedy 

Reviewed by Gray Palmer
Ammunition Theatre Company
Extended through August 9 

RECOMMENDED 

Playwright D.G. Watson has some of the qualities of a holy fool. In 2009, after a period of spiritual agony, he tried to emulate the saintly Mildred Norman, Peace Pilgrim, who “walked for peace” for 28 years. Watson gave away all of his possessions, deleted his manuscripts, spray-painted his t-shirt with the message “Walking for Peace,” and set out across Delaware. But after three days, he sent a mass email: “Peace Pilgrim is down. Repeat: Peace Pilgrim is down,” and called his mother.

So, what kind of play does Watson write? The Ammunition Theatre Company’s current offering isn’t about that lyric — possibly hypomanic — episode, but it does involve a series of spiritual pratfalls.

The Tragedy: A Comedy, in a special engagement once-a-month at The Pico, is a very funny, bad-trip comedy. You might call it an inter-dimensional vision-quest. Fans of Terrence McKenna will be tickled by the R. Crumb treatment of drug experimentation; fans of Lovecraft will be thrilled by the conjuration of malevolent forces; prim narratologists — I know you’re out there — will be pleased to chloroform-and-pin a new specimen of meta-theatrics; while the rest of us, to judge from the audience at the April performance, will just laugh and laugh.

The story begins with familiar situation comedy. In a meeting at a down-scale talent agency — we might as well be watching a bit from The Dick Van Dyke Show — comedian Buddy Scott (Kim Hamilton, in the first of several roles) is getting the boot from her manager, Larry (Malcolm Barrett). She miserably begs to stay with the agency. He miserably relents. Larry’s agency partners, Lisa and Derek (Tina Huang and Chris Gardner), who have been eavesdropping on the meeting, are furious. Why didn’t Larry have the guts to scrub the roster of this last loser? Because their miserable business needs a fresh start.

But they lack the big picture, and the clock is ticking. Rent is in arrears, staff has quit, and the electricity is going to be cut-off. What to do about a new master plan? Brainstorming gets them nowhere. So, they decide to seek pharmacological inspiration.

Dealer Tony (Roland Ruiz) makes a delivery. He’s short on the usual product, so he offers something from his personal stash: Manna, shavings from a giant, mysterious mushroom.

At this point, as though we’ve exhaled a cloud of DMT, Watson’s play accelerates with rubbery-faced lift-off into a world populated by figures drawn with wavy lines. The physical production snaps into florescent technicolor with melty edges (set design by Mark Kanieff, lights by Masai Mitchell, sound by Mischa Stanton), with shocking transformation of characters (costumes by Melissa Trn).

Larry, Derek, and Lisa discover that they are under a curse. Bad relations with a former client have cast a karmic shadow on the company. We meet Ethan Cross (Garrett Mercer), an evil motivational guru, and his assistant Solar Girl (Juli Bersani); we discover that two sister goddesses, muses Melpomene (Hamilton again) and Thalia (Claudia Doumit) are presiding over adventures in this domain. And we get karmic instruction from Ezekiel (Jason Ryan Lovett) and the returning dealer Tony.

Director Ahmed Best has assembled the forces of this outstanding company and tuned up the comedy with delightful results — no mean feat for a one-off, monthly performance.

The Pico, 10508 West Pico Blvd., West L.A.; second or third Thursday of every month. (310) 204-4440 or www.ammotheatre.com. Extended through August 9th. Running time: one hour and 45 minutes with intermission.