Balancing The Boards -- Modern Scribes And A New Seattle Theater Troupe Aim To Germinate More Juicy Stage Roles For Women

------------------------------- THEATER REVIEWS

"Vital Signs" by Jane Martin Runs Thursday-Saturday through July 18, at Odd Duck Studio, 1214 10th Ave., Seattle; $10-$12, 206-523-3749.

"A Pirate's Lullaby" by Jessica Litwak Runs Friday-Sunday through July 18 at Northwest Actors Studio, 1100 E. Pike St., Seattle; $8-$10, 206-324-6328. -------------------------------

Male characters still tend to outnumber females in our stage repertoire by a wide margin. But there are modern scribes trying hard to rectify that imbalance.

Jane Martin's "Vital Signs" lays out a veritable smorgasbord of contemporary female personalities to snack on - 34 courses in all. It's the sort of quick-hit, multiflavored character assortment that spins off a lot of audition pieces for young actresses.

Actually, the staging of "Vital Signs" at Odd Duck Studio is like a group audition for Sirens Theatre Company, a new Seattle troupe whose founders (according to their mission statement) "got tired of desperately searching for plays with exciting female characters."

Excitement comes and goes in "Vital Signs," a series of glib and insightful, sincere and sensationalized monologues (and one dialogue) of about five minutes apiece, connected only by the touch-tag stage business that director Emily Petkewich has devised to keep things moving.

A prolific, ostensibly female dramatist, whose real name is a closely guarded secret, the pseudonymous Martin is an old hand at monologue-crafting. Her well-known collection of 11 solo portraits, "Talking With," had a successful run here at the Group Theatre in 1985.

In the sketchier "Vital Signs," Martin offers pithy, updated musings in a variety of moods and voices. In a self-analytical confessional mode, there's a woman who claims to be better at starting relationships than following through on them, and another who prepares herself for death by realizing she no longer has any "nostalgia for surprises."

In single-joke mode, there's a funny bit about a cocaine-addiction hotline volunteer becoming unglued, and a visit with an overly reverent Graceland tour guide.

Martin also tosses in grotesqueries: a sharpshooter recalling a bullet-riddled row with a lover. A gal so obsessed with safe sex, she examines her date's gums. And when a woman confides, "I had me a pet iguana once," you know more eccentricities will follow.

"Vital Signs" is enacted here by six women and two (largely silent) men. Among the quick-switching actresses, Carolyn Crabtree, Lori Lee Haener, and Shawna Wilson make the strongest impression. And the guys (J.D. Lloyd and Philip Clarke) do finally get to talk, in a funny skit about a pair of Bette Davis wannabes.

`Lullaby' reaches deeper

By contrast, Jessica Litwak's "A Pirate's Lullaby" tries to grapple in some depth with female loneliness, conflict and bravery.

The multistranded story revolves around a shy young history professor, Daisy (Jenn Ruzumna), who wants to become the heroine of her own messy life.

Daisy is pregnant, thanks to a one-night stand with a nerdy, married colleague (Greg Delaney). She's about to visit her family's Lake Michigan vacation home for the last time, before the government confiscates the land for suspicious purposes. And then there's her impossible relationship with her ultra-rigid, hypercritical mother, Natalie (Trish Egan).

To add some feminist history and dramatic zing, Litwak brings on the ghost of a legendary 18th-century female pirate, Anne Bonney (Marnice Richmond), to serve as Daisy's spiritual helper. She recounts her daring adventures on the high seas with another female swashbuckler, Mary Reade (Robin Kurtz), and (incongruously) lectures Daisy on the biologics of conception and birth.

All this doesn't quite fit into a play that grows unwieldy as it jumps back and forth across the centuries. And the addition of a mythical island monster is one mystical stroke too many.

Despite that, as well as a dip into girl-power sentimentality and an uneven cast under Walter Baker's direction who struggle with some of the elaborately archaic profanities and yo-ho-ho dialogue, "A Pirate's Lullaby" is an ambitious stab at something interesting. And it has a girl-guy sword fight that's really keen.