The 99-Seat Beat: Dorothy Parker, plus Ayad Akhtar times two

When our self-interest and the greater good are not perfectly aligned, the competing loyalties may be painfully divisive. They also make for compelling drama, as reflected in this week’s promising selections from L.A.’s small theaters.

"The Willows" at the Bootleg Theater and "The Dorothy Parker Project" at Pacific Resident Theatre have their premieres, while two other houses stage work by Ayad Akhtar, a leading storyteller for our contentious time. All explore conflicts between individual wants and collective obligations — to family, race, religion, social class and national identity.

‘The Willows’ at Bootleg

The essentials: Theater co-founder Jessica Hanna directs the premiere of Kerri-Ann McCalla’s family drama, in which a mortician’s son reluctantly sets aside his dreams to honor his ailing father’s wish for him to take over the family business. His quandary worsens when he discovers that the latest grieving customers include a young widow who turns out to be his one-night partner from a tryst he’s never gotten over.

Why this? The premise may sound a bit like “Before Sunrise” meets “Six Feet Under,” but McCalla writes about everyday life with a relatable sensitivity all her own. Rather than relying on villains, the play meets a more difficult challenge in telling a compelling story: Its seven vividly drawn characters are all trying to do the right thing, but they fall short in the face of their all-too-human fears, biases and frailties.

Details: A Bootleg Theater production, 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. 7 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends May 5. $20. (213) 389-3856, www.bootlegtheater.org

‘The Dorothy Parker Project’ at Pacific Resident

The essentials: “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy,” once quipped Dorothy Parker, the critic, poet and enfant terrible of the notorious Algonquin Vicious Circle. Although Parker was best known for her scathing put-downs (she famously mocked a Katharine Hepburn performance that “ran the gamut of emotions — from A to B”), the complex, wounded spirit behind the acerbic facade emerges in the first full staging of Pacific Resident Theatre’s “The Dorothy Parker Project.”

Based on producer Robert Cannon’s original concept, with additional material by playwright Kathrine Bates and co-directors Michael Cooper and Marilyn Fox, the piece features Diane Hurley as Parker, welcoming us into her New York apartment circa 1958 to dish and reminisce. As she traces her life, Pacific Resident veterans enact five original adaptations of her short stories and several emotionally raw poems.

Why this? An emphasis on great writing has long distinguished Pacific Resident productions throughout its 33 years. This show reveals the underappreciated idealistic side of a crusader and activist who bequeathed her entire estate to Martin Luther King Jr. Consistently taking the side of social outcasts against the interests of her upper-class peers, she cheerfully explains that “When I go for the jugular, it’s usually a vein with blue blood in it.”

Details: A Pacific Resident Theatre and Robert Cannon production at Pacific Resident, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays; ends May 20. $22. (310) 822-8392, pacificresidenttheatre.com

‘Disgraced’ at L.A. Theatre Works

The essentials: A Muslim, a Jew, a black lawyer and a white artist sit down to a gourmet dinner in a picture-perfect validation of the assimilated, upwardly mobile American Dream — and all hell breaks loose. “Disgraced,” Ayad Akhtar’s 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, returns to the stage in L.A. Theatre Works’ limited-run radio play version performed for a live audience. Hari Dhillon and Emily Swallow reprise their roles from the acclaimed 2016 Mark Taper Forum production, as a passionately secular hotshot attorney of Pakistani descent and his artistic wife who find their seemingly harmonious marriage and close friendships undermined by cross-currents of hidden ideological allegiances and resentments.

Why this? Akhtar has emerged as a go-to playwright for chronicling the social fissures in divisive times. Yet as he articulates the issues fueling a climate of escalating tensions, Akhtar maintains a masterful dramatist’s focus on their human toll. His razor-sharp dialogue and character-based momentum are suited to L.A. Theatre Works’ format. This cast also includes Geoffrey Arend (from TV’s “Body of Proof” and “Madam Secretary”).

Details: An L.A. Theatre Works production at UCLA James Bridges Theater, 235 Charles E. Young Drive, Melnitz Hall, Los Angeles (parking in Lot No. 3). 8 p.m. this coming Thursday and Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday, ends April 22. $45-$65. (310) 827-0889, www.latw.org

‘The Invisible Hand’ at Ensemble Theatre

The essentials: In another example of Akhtar’s insightful playwriting, Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company presents his political thriller “The Invisible Hand.” In something of a thematic flip side to “Disgraced,” the protagonist here is a midlevel American banker who’s been kidnapped in Pakistan by terrorists seeking an impossibly high ransom to fund community improvements (or so they claim). To keep his captors from killing him, the banker offers to raise the money by applying his knowledge of commodity futures.

Why this: Artistic Director Jonathan Fox brings excellent production values to his staging as Akhtar’s tense drama finds unexpected connections between the intractable problem of terrorism and the “invisible hand” of greed that corrupts the loftiest ideals and loyalties.

Details: An Ensemble Theatre Company and English Theatre Frankfurt co-production at the New Vic, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends April 29. Also 7 p.m. April 17 and 4 p.m. April 21. $35-$70. (805) 965-5400, etcsb.org

The 99-Seat Beat appears every Friday. Our reviewers shortlist offerings with an emphasis on 99-seat theaters and other smaller venues. Some (but not all) recommendations are shows we've seen; others have caught our attention because of the track record of the company, playwright, director or cast. Comprehensive theater listings are posted every Sunday at latimes.com/arts.