The Normal Child

Normalcy has gradations, particularly in the siblings of writer-director Phillip William Brock's one-act. Claire (Amanda Weier) has confined herself in the bedroom of her childhood home, perched on a chair, which is balanced on four magnums of whiskey, which teeter on four stacks of books, which puts her neck in reach of a noose. In this highly metaphoric work, her brother Terrance (Rob Nagle) visits—either in her mind or in reality—to urge her out of her room, either via his waiting car or via her ability to fly. The work presumably indicts parental cruelty, but its strong points are its poetry and the actors' lyricism.

Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Sat., June 25, noon; Sun., June 26, 1 p.m.