‘Penumbra’ Tries to Break Through

There may be a good play struggling to emerge from Jean Colonomos’ “Penumbra,” but it never quite breaks through in the muddled new Playwrights’ Arena production.

Lupe Ortiz (Denise Blasor) is a meek Latina maid who falls in love with her employer, Jacob (Ross Evans), a Polish Holocaust survivor and recent widower. For reasons that are never adequately explained, the unworldly domestic gets romance lessons from the ghost of Jacob’s wife (Laura James), who insists on seeing Lupe as her double. Unfortunately, this sets up Lupe for an inevitable heartbreak once the rebounding Jacob recovers from his grief.

As a post-feminist Gothic riff, the tale might have worked. But Colonomos adopts some affected and confusing narrative strategies, among them a male chorus (Cedric Duplechain) who appears chanting and singing in the guise of a Caribbean voodoo celebrant.

Director Deborah LaVine’s production would have benefited from quicker pacing, not to mention more rehearsal time (at the reviewed performance, actors repeatedly stumbled over lines). But it would take a sober and unsparing rewrite to transform this odd play into anything more than a passing curiosity.

* “Penumbra,” Playwrights’ Arena, 5262 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends March 16. $15. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.