Unanswered questions make for choppy ‘Water’

An affair breaks up two marriages in “Orange Flower Water,” the second production of the new LA Stage & Film, at Gascon Center Theatre in Culver City.

Craig Wright’s play is set in the small town of Pine City, Minn., and it’s a small play -- a 75-minute series of monologues and duologues that leave a few basic questions unanswered about its characters.

Perhaps that was part of Wright’s strategy. He probably realized that his subject and the name Pine City sound as if they’re straight out of a TV soap opera. To mitigate that impression, he rejected the repetitious underlining of soap opera writing and chose to present a more distilled glimpse of these events.

We move immediately from an initial monologue by Cathy (Roxanne Hart), who’s apparently unaware that anything is amiss in her marriage, to a scene in which her husband, David (Michael Mantell), attempts to convince the hesitant Beth (Terry Urdang) of his love.

Then we meet Beth’s boorish husband, Brad (Brian Cousins), who’s much more suspicious of his mate than Cathy is of hers. Brad’s also more distraught about subsequent events.

Indeed, the women are made of much stronger emotional fiber than the men. If a woman had written the play, she might be suspected of male-bashing.

The scenes are presented with a fine sheen by director Meryl Friedman. All the actors remain on stage throughout. The ones who aren’t directly involved in a scene linger in the background and occasionally glance meaningfully at the actors who are front and center, accompanied by the accent marks of Dan Weingarten’s lighting.

The sexiest scene is shared not by the illicit lovers but by the erstwhile marrieds David and Cathy. Although the actors remain clothed and facing the audience, Wright’s dialogue takes them through a farewell bedroom encounter that serves as a brief tour de force for the writer and the actors.

It’s so convincing that it renews the question of why these two are splitting up -- a question that’s never satisfactorily answered. The play’s surprisingly upbeat and slightly sappy resolution isn’t very credible, either.

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‘Orange Flower Water’

Where: Gascon Center Theatre, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City.

When: Saturday and Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2, 8 p.m.; Sunday and Nov. 3, 7 p.m.

Ends: Nov. 3.

Price: $20.

Contact: (310) 285-9305.