Relative Values : American Renegade Theatre’s ‘Nevada Line’ depicts the destruction of a family applying traditional solutions to modern problems.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD —  If you ever thought that you could go home again, “Nevada Line” is probably not the play for you.

“Last year, with the presidential election and all that talk about ‘traditional family values,’ I began thinking, ‘What would happen if people started going back to old values for answers to new questions?’ ” director Richard Cooper said. “This play is an example of that: a son who goes home, trying to use old methods to put together a family with modern problems. The result is, he becomes a catalyst for their destruction.”

Clyde Hayes’ play, which has its world premiere tonight as part of the Foundry Series at the American Renegade Theatre, gives Cooper a chance to examine this difficult emotional turf--and to take on some aesthetic challenges.

“We’re working with a minimalist set,” he explained cheerfully, “trying to place this very naturalistic, Sam Shepard-type, kitchen-sink drama, and set it against a ‘Twilight Zone’ sort of backdrop.

“I had a concept for this play,” the director added. “I wanted to bring a more cinematic effect to it, try to have the audience be a participant--without really being a participant in it. We’re surrounding the audience with that atmosphere: using a graphic artist to do murals, special lighting--incorporating theater around the audience, not just on the stage. So there are a lot of theatrical elements.”

The title of the seven-character piece, the playwright says, is a metaphor for crossing a boundary, stepping into something unknown.

“I also spent time in Nevada, where the events originate,” Hayes said. Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, he also spent the last several years in Rome, working as a writer and actor. His movie “Rubdown” aired in September on USA Cable.

Hayes believes that this play is about the deterioration of the American family. As for any resemblance to his own family, “it’s all truth,” the writer quipped, “lies, illusion, delusion--a compilation of whatever we are.”

Cooper has no qualms drawing parallels from the play to his own life. Born in Denver, Colo., he grew up in the Philippines, where his father was head of the Veterans Administration’s Far Eastern Division, and resettled in Oklahoma when he was 11. His adult experiences have included graduation from the University of Oklahoma at Norman, acting studies in New York with Herbert Berghof, oil-rig work in Santa Barbara and two failed marriages.

“You get to a place where you start thinking, ‘I still haven’t done what I want to do with my life,’ ” Cooper said. “In 1989, I was approaching 40 and I decided to move to Los Angeles, do this acting thing for real.”

A year later, he spotted the sign outside the American Renegade Theatre. “Wait a minute,” he recalled thinking. “Renegade--that’s me. It’s what this play is about too: At a certain point, you realize you have to take a stand in life, do what makes you happy.”

Where and When What: “Nevada Line.” Location: American Renegade Theatre, 11305 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Hours: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Indefinitely. Price: $10 to $12; discounts for students, senior citizens and groups. Call: (818) 763-4430