LaWeekly.com
It is as discordant as a kindergarten death-metal band, the eight lunaticesses in Arthur Kopit�s asylum-set one-act screech, holler and, well, continue to screech until the curtain mercifully drops. Each has dressed herself in the signatures of a favorite heroine. In attendance at this sixth annual meeting of the demented are Joan of Arc (Jessika Aerin Hughes), Queen Isabella (Silvia McClure), the Bride of Mozart (Dana Cuomo), a hungry explorer (Anoush Arakelian), a rather shrill Gertrude Stein (Elizabeth Ammann), silent actress Pearl White (Andie Falconi), an officious (and butch) Susan B. Anthony (Sherry Coon), and cool-toned Amelia Earhart (Catherine Talton), who demands that she�s far too even-keeled to be locked away amidst the shrieking brigade. Perhaps, but as she and the others maintain the meeting�s masquerades with the cardboard certainty of the unimaginative author, it becomes disappointingly clear that Kopit�s celebrity gimmickry isn�t interested in nuance or identity play. Beyond three seconds of flirtation between Stein and Anthony, it isn�t even interested in the personality concoction it�s created. Michael Herbertson�s depthless direction adds little to Kopit�s lazy yelps, squabbles and monologues; he was given paper dolls of bothersome madwomen and undertakes none of the burden of making them dimensional, favoring instead nail-on-chalkboard histrionics and easy-target misogyny, despite the talent most readily seen in Falconi, Arakelian and Cuomo. COLSAC Theater, 6902 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Wed.-Thurs., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Feb. 13. (310) 228-7492. (Amy Nicholson) Online Review