THEATER REVIEW:

In his lifetime, which ended all too soon in 1992, prolific Orange County playwright Jack Sharkey was well acquainted with the local community theater scene, attending performances — and often even rehearsals — of his shows, written under a handful of pseudonyms.

This experience served him well for “Play On,” a backstage comedy he wrote under the alias of Rick Abbott about a theater group tackling a mystery play written by a local author, who keeps changing her script right up to opening night. It proved to be one of Sharkey’s most popular projects.

The Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse has seized on “Play On” as its current production, pulling out all the stops of self-satirization in a rollicking package both witty and wacky. Anyone who’s ever been involved in a community theater production will experience particular delight in this show.

The Sharkey/Abbott script is governed by Murphy’s Law — anything that possibly can go wrong does so during shaky rehearsals and a disastrous opening night. Director Ryan Holihan opens up the backstage area to expose the merriment behind the scenes.

Driving the comedy with a vengeance are the husband-and-wife team of Mike and Barbara Brown as, respectively, the harried director of this opus and the fluttery playwright who strings together alliterative phrases like “Dehli diamond” and “dreadful demise” shamelessly.

The “cast” members are well represented as well. Marc Montminy draws the most chuckles as the tipsy host of the gathering, while Laura Lindahl casts a comical glow as the play’s heroine who has a problem with emphasis on such words as “content.”

Melanie Marshall maintains a regal attitude while fending off comments about her physical abundance.

Elizabeth Bouton gives her stage manager character a rich dose of Southern-accented sass, while Tiffany McQuay scores as the irritable operator of the sound and lighting effects.

Playgoers are advised to arrive early in order to peruse the program and its cast biography section. Instead of the actors’ bios, they’ll find detailed sketches of the characters they’re playing. Even the backstage technicians throw in a reference to a vintage movie comedy that older audiences will pick up on.

“Play On” does just that, often hilariously, to an appreciative audience which, on opening night, included the playwright’s widow, Pat Sharkey. Think of it as the American version of “Noises Off.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Play On”

WHERE: Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa

WHEN: Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through April 6

COST: $20 - $18

CALL: (949) 650-5269 or www.CostaMesaPlayhouse.org

An involving “Stop Kiss” at OCC

The critical point of Diana Son’s “Stop Kiss” arrives when, just after two young women, leaving a lesbian bar at 4:15 a.m., share their tentative first kiss in a New York park — and one of them is brutally attacked, rendering her comatose.

While not depicting the attack itself, Son skillfully weaves two distinct and alternating story lines through her captivating play.

One scenario, quite lighthearted, traces the women’s first meeting to the moment of the kiss; the other begins after the attack and delineates the process of physical and emotional recovery.

OCC student director Samantha Wellen has mounted a most captivating production.

Wellen manages to accomplish what all too few directors with far more experience ever achieve — capturing and portraying the most basically human and honest emotions.

The story centers on Callie (Hannah Petrak), a weather reporter for a New York radio station, who becomes friends with Sara (Taylor McDermott), an idealistic teacher from St. Louis who instructs grade schoolers in a tough Bronx neighborhood.

Both have been straight to this point, involved in failed and failing relationships with men.

The more mundane section of their story actually is the more interesting as the pair become closer friends.

Petrak, in particular, is mesmerizing as a woman in search of something she cannot define. She depicts her character’s uncertainty in a most natural fashion, and she is quite haunting in her post-attack scenes dealing with Sara’s family and friends.

McDermott also scores highly as the eventual victim, fervently dedicated to her work with less-fortunate youngsters and somewhat wide-eyed over the entire New York experience. Her scenes with Petrak play out smoothly and seamlessly. 

Five actors appear in cameo-style supporting roles, the most impressive being Bruce Brown as a tough police detective investigating the assault.

As a project of OCC’s student-operated Repertory Theater Company, “Stop Kiss” is most impressive, both in production and performance.

In Samantha Wellen, the college has discovered a director of talent and insight in its own student body.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Stop Kiss”

WHERE: Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa

WHEN: Closing performances tonight and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 7:30

COST: $5 - $6

CALL: (714) 432-5880 or www.occtickets.com

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays.