These two short plays by George F. Walker explore the darker side of human nature and how even our best intentions can mutate into our worst realities. A rewarding evening of theatre, these thought-provoking productions are intelligent and skillfully realized. The first one-act, Adult Entertainment, begins with a couple having sex in a cheesy motel room, the tacky bedspread bouncing comically over the grunting figures beneath. The couple—Max (Finn Curtin), a straight-shooting detective, and Jayne (Hepburn Jamieson), a hardhearted defense lawyer—take the law into their own hands in an effort to do the "right" thing. But with the screw-ups of Max's drunken partner, Donny (played with comic vigor by Jon Stafford), their plans go terribly awry.
Curtin gives a nuanced performance, balancing the play's light-and-dark elements with grace. And the engaging Terri Smith plays Donny's estranged wife with skilled suppleness, moving between sorrow and hope with fluid ease. She cuts a comical yet pathetic figure with her housewife's body crammed into hooker's regalia.
Martha Demson's direction, while a bit uneven in tone, brings the play's subtler qualities to life. After the rather confusing opening bit, the play settles into itself and becomes an engaging ride.
The second play, Problem Child, begins with a bang as ex-con-gone-good R.J. (Sean Gunn) rants at a TV talk show. He and his recovering drug-addict wife, Denise (Andrea Fears), are holed-up in a motel room, waiting for news about their daughter, who has been taken into custody by child services. Denise's desperation grows after their meeting with the social worker (Alisa Wilson), and she moves away from her hard-won sobriety into dangerous plans of kidnapping and murder. Gunn is terrific—present, real, and damn funny. Fears plays Denise with forced tension but finds real depth in her direct-address monologue late in the play. Wilson is hilarious, but in her almost cartoonish portrayal we don't get to see the real horror of her sincerity. There may be a complex struggle between right and wrong here, but under Stefan Novinski's direction, we are told quite clearly whom to root for.
Sound design by Tim Labor adds kick, especially in Problem Child, and lighting design by R. Robert DeCrew is simple but effective.
"Suburban Motel," presented by the Open Fist Theatre Company's Second Stage, in association with One Small Monkey, at the Open Fist Theatre, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Thurs. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Feb. 7-Mar. 14. $10. (323) 992-6912.