Playwright Wendy MacLeod (The House of Yes) enjoys viewing serious subjects with a dark and twisted sense of humor. And this is no exception. Though 5 years old, this is the play's Los Angeles premiere, as well as the premiere production at the Lounge Theatre, the newest addition to Hollywood's Theatre Row on Santa Monica Boulevard. While the Lounge is an attractive new space, Schoolgirl Figure, directed by Alex M. LaGory, is mostly a one-joke tale of eating disorders that becomes repetitive and predictable before the first act ends. And even though the cast is competent, LaGory's take on the script lessens the humor by trying too hard to make it funny.
The story focuses on high school girls so obsessed with being thin that the pecking order in popularity is based on weight. The problem is that each leader of The Carpenters--as in Karen Carpenter--ends up dying. The reigning thin girl is Monique (Amy London). She is on her deathbed, and vicious Renee (Jennifer Capps) is out to take the throne, which also entitles her to date an oblivious hunk named The Bradley (Ty Kamerman). She and her bulimic naive pal Patty (Hannah Crum) spend most of the play scheming against Jeanine (Kimberly Wood), the other thinnest girl. An unseen but heard Greek chorus of deceased Carpenters watches the proceedings and warns the girls that if they eat, they will not be popular.
MacLeod's script is a seemingly endless string of "smells have calories" type of jokes. The characters lack depth, which LaGory only accentuates. Instead of the performers playing this black comedy straight, they have turned the roles into caricatures. Kamerman's The Bradley is a typical jock with a Bill and Ted accent. As Jeanine, Wood has adopted the bleached-blond airhead persona that we expect in improv skits. And London, who performs several supporting roles, is cartoonish in her mannerisms and movement to the point of distraction. Capps and Crum are a bit more reserved, but there is little material for them to develop. Only when this dark comedy is not played for laughs does it get any, and that is not too often.