‘Trilogy’ takes an edgy look at dysfunction

Numerous unnerving notes sound in the Rude Guerrilla Theater Company’s production of “The New Jersey Trilogy” in Santa Ana. Ken Urban’s three provocative plays examine pre-millennial American dysfunction through Garden State glasses, darkly. In the process, “New Jersey Trilogy” becomes a caustic picture of immense post-millennial pertinence, regardless of locale.

“Trilogy,” subtitled “Three Plays for the Garden State or A Brief History of the End of the Twentieth Century,” sets the tone with the opener in the triptych, “I (Heart) KANT,” which was written first. This obscenely funny, deeply disturbing harangue takes place “post-grunge but pre-boy band revival,” i.e., during the Clinton years. The third-person narrative pits four wounded, surprisingly interrelated women (Erika Tai, Kelly Quigley, Johnna Adams and Julie Jagusiak, all amazing) against Immanuel Kant’s essay on the sublime, with the redoubtable Steven Parker as narrator and their various foils.

The second play completed is the finale, “Halo,” an awesome achievement.

Weaving Y2K paranoia, tabloid tactics and Grecian commentary into a latter-day Everyman pageant, Urban achieves outrageous symbiosis. The execution is seamless, with Dawn Hess’ lighting and Sean T. Cawelti’s puppets especially incisive.

The actors freely embrace Urban’s trenchant iconoclasm, with Marcia Bonitz’s gender-switched Everyman memorable and Jagusiak and Ryan Harris’ unspeakable siblings beyond praise.

Debuting is the centerpiece, “Nibbler,” a satiric post-Gulf War hike through the Medford woods by five graduating seniors (Parker, Kelly Stark, Harris, Tai and Walter A. Lutz Jr., all fervent), a pot-smoking cop (Vince Campbell, superb), and the alien-faced title character (Aurelio Locsin, selfless). The writing is Jersey Devil fierce, but director-designer Dave Barton, in his sole miscalculation, permits measured tempos that dull the comic thrust.

Still, though “Nibbler” needs caffeine, Barton’s forces are in best-ever form, with the acute theatricality and riveting commitment they display making this triad required viewing for equally courageous audiences.

*

‘The New Jersey Trilogy’

Where: Empire Theater, 200 N. Broadway, Santa Ana

When: Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m.

Ends: Sept. 7

Price: $12-$15

Contact: (714) 547-4688

Running time: 3 hours