Fabulation: or the Re-Education of Undine

"Re-invent yourself." In our mega-modern world of big-time options, that's a positive message, right? It validates our inherent right to pick ourselves up and start down a new path without looking back. But it doesn't remind us about what happens when we shut— and try to lock—the doors behind us to open new ones. In a bang-up Los Angeles premiere, which initiate's West Coast Ensemble's "Diversity Initiative," Lynn Nottage's wickedly funny play takes an unflinching look at the price paid for abandoning one's history.

We first meet Undine Barnes Calles, the play's more than slightly fabulous central character, at the top of her game. She's a self-created 21st-century black entrepreneur, capitalizing on "the vanity and confusion of the African American Nouveau Riche" to start her own fierce PR firm in Manhattan. Undine's take no prisoners attitude about causes, photo-ops, and celebrities on spiritual journeys is pretty much irresistible; with star presence to spare, actor Adeye Sahran manages the character's breakneck dialogue and laser-like focus brilliantly. But after Undine's player husband Herve (Carlos Acuña, rico, suave, and then some) drains her bank accounts and disappears, her fall is quick and merciless. And when her social circle turns its back on her, Undine knocks on the only door she can think of: her childhood home, located in the Brooklyn projects. Here we begin to learn just how much of a creation Udine's savvy self is.

Working wonders with a simple black-box setting (lighting by Lauraen Wemischner, sound design by Rebecca Kessin) director Ben Campbell has put together a marvelously tight production. Sahran and the exceptional ensemble cast (Acuña, Ed Baccari, Sachandra Grandiot, DeJon Mayes, Regina Randolf, Lyn Michele Ross, and a red-hot Ace Gibson), each actor playing multiple roles, deliver powerfully comic yet nuanced performances that embrace the playwright's fearless use of stereotypes and her fantastic ability with language. The play successfully crosses lines of class and race to take us on a journey that's surprising in some very unexpected ways and ultimately quite moving. This is a lesson that's most certainly worth watching—and sharing.


Presented by West Coast Ensemble at the Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. June 4-13. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (800) 595-4849. www.tix.com