Examining Ritual in ‘Fire’s’ Offbeat Light

Amy Hill’s newest show at Highways, “Out of the Light--Into the Fire,” which deals with the ever-dwindling state of ritual in everyday life, has been co-written by Hill, Magda Diaz and Anne Etue, who also directed and co-stars.

A charmingly atypical actress-comedian, Hill earns hearty laughs plumbing her Japanese-Finnish heritage for clues to the importance of ritual, but this potentially compelling theme gets clogged by general sloppiness and lack of definition.

While slides of offbeat epigrams and philosophical snippets flash on and off, Hill wittily expounds on the role of heat and steam in the sacred rituals of the Japanese bath and the Scandinavian sauna, and casts about for substitutes for these and other endangered traditions.

A pragmatist gingerly treading a spiritual path, Hill is strongest when she candidly explicates her own history and present emotional state. But the lack of clarifying introduction and character delineation makes it difficult to tell when Hill segues from her own point of view to that of a fictional persona. However, this promising piece is in its developmental infancy and shouldn’t get tossed with the bathwater.

* “Out of the Light--Into the Fire,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Friday-Sunday only, 8:30 p.m. $15. (310) 453-1755. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.