THEATER REVIEWS : Many Nuns, Puns in Plays Poking Fun at Old Habits : ‘Nunsense!’ and ‘Lie, Cheat and Genuflect’ give theatergoers a taste of Roman Catholic-tinged humor.

It’s hard to know why, but it seems that the Roman Catholic Church takes an above-average amount of ribbing in the theater--not so much its beliefs, mind you, but the superficial aspects. Nuns are particularly funny to playwrights and audiences, and funny nuns are important to two plays currently being performed in Ventura.

A man disguises himself as a nun in order to collect an inheritance in Billy van Zandt and Jane Milmore’s farce “Lie, Cheat and Genuflect,” now playing at the Elite Theatre Company in Oxnard. In Thousand Oaks, the Conejo Players are mounting the county’s fifth version in 18 months of the musical revue “Nunsense!”

Both opened last weekend; “Nunsense!” on Sunday afternoon--the only reason that anybody attended that particular performance may be that Notre Dame is ineligible for the Super Bowl.

As everybody from Ojai to Simi Valley must know by now, “Nunsense!” depicts a fund-raising variety show, put on by the fictitious Little Sisters of Hoboken. They sing! They dance! They make mildly sacrilegious jokes! Nuns are human beings, and it’s a laugh riot!

Billy and Tom Buckle, disinherited heirs to the family’s fortune (great grand-dad invented the belt buckle) sneak into the family home in “Lie, Cheat and Genuflect” to steal their recently deceased father’s money from his wall safe before sister Lisa can rightfully claim it. Among other things, they need the money to repay Tom’s gambling debt. Part of Tom’s scheme involves convincing the estate’s executor that Lisa has become a nun, by dressing Billy in the appropriate outfit and passing him off as Lisa.

Billy (B. H. Allen) and Tom (James Leslie) are not only brothers, but a comic duo: “Dumb (Tom) and Dumber (Billy)” created well before the motion picture of the same name. Tom’s the ringleader, but every bit as likely to screw things up as the more passive Billy. Also assembled at the Buckle manor are longtime housekeeper Virginia (Cindy Swager), and attorney-executor Robert Fryburger (Jereme Leslie).

There’s a mysterious girl (Liz White), with baby in arms, who may be the real Lisa, and a woman (Ann Heiliger) who identifies herself as the deceased’s former nurse. As these characters are chasing one another around Ernie Gibbs and Glen Jacobs’ handsome set, along come bookie Pizza Face (Chuck Frankenberg) and his moll, Miss MacKintosh (Madee Stone).

Some of the most amusing scenes involve Billy, a Protestant, trying to pass himself off as a nun, but Miss MacKintosh gets what may be the show’s funniest line: “I just thought I’d have to sleep with (Pizza Face). . . . I never thought I’d have to be his secretary.”

While the actors are for the most part fine, several seemed to be having problems with their lines at Saturday night’s performance--an affliction that resulted in much unnecessary repetition. Local audiences are most familiar with Alan Price as an actor. He directed this one, and it will be interesting to see further work from him.

The company, with English and American co-founders, here calls the two intermissions by the British term, intervals . If they insist upon keeping up this affectation, perhaps they should start stocking the coffee table with Pimm’s Cup and table water biscuits.

The Conejo Players’ production of “Nunsense!” is an assured affair, under the direction of Patricia Adrian-Fishman, with notable contributions by choreographer Ann Oppenheim and musical director Andre Oui.

The nuns--Norma Leith, Julie Prijatel, Satomi Hofmann, Michelle Berti and Jessie Reems-Terrell--are better-than-average singers (Hofmann has a particular good pop voice), and they all tap dance convincingly when called upon to do so. As for the jokes, look for weary puns (“Nunsense is a habit . . . “). purportedly amusing names (Sister Julia . . . child of God), and writer Dan Goggin’s self-congratulation at holding any penguin jokes until the second act. It should be noted that many people find all this to be vastly amusing, enough to have kept “Nunsense!” running for several years off-Broadway.

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Details

“Lie, Cheat and Genuflect”

* WHEN: Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. through March 4.

* WHERE: Petit Ranch House, 730 S. B St. (Heritage Square), Oxnard.

* HOW MUCH: General admission $10; seniors, $7.

* FYI: For reservations or information, call 526-6219.

“Nunsense!”

* WHEN: Sunday afternoons at 2:30 through Feb. 19.

* WHERE: Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks.

* HOW MUCH: All tickets $5.

* FYI: All seats are sold at the door on a first come, first served basis, with no reservations accepted. For information, call 495-3715.