‘Anxiety’ Diminishes as the Years Pass

Confusion over sexual identity still breeds plenty of “Performance Anxiety” in an energetic East LA Actors Company revival of Vernon Takeshita’s 10-year-old comedy. Nevertheless, with subject matter not much racier than today’s average “Ally McBeal” episode, the play has lost its outrageous edge, and its long-term prospects are questionable.

There’s also a racial identity subtext to the sexual merry-go-round involving a trio of Asian Americans, though its message is a bit obscure in the surreal staging by Alberto Isaac (who directed the original East West Players production). Derek (Francois Chau) is a gay doctor who claims he “likes being in the closet.”

His sham marriage to Felice (Jennifer Lynn, capably filling in for Kimiko Gelman) is a way for him to act out his 1950s sitcom fantasies, complete with wittily designed cardboard cut-out children. This sexless union drives Felice to don wig and fake identity for a covert affair with David (Greg Watanabe), an academic troubled by his lack of libido and obsession with a past one-night stand (who turns out to have been Felice). He seeks medical help--from Derek, naturally--who tries to change David’s sexual orientation through cross-dressing therapy.

The mistaken-identity complications are best viewed in the context of very broad farce--i.e., camp and shock value take precedence over coherence and believability. Despite very committed performances, however, the jokes just aren’t funny enough to overcome the dated themes. The play’s more sardonic implication--that sexual identity can be shaped by what we’re told rather than who we are--is more successfully addressed in an eerie shift of tone in the final scenes--too little, too late.

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* “Performance Anxiety,” East Los Angeles College Little Theatre, 1301 Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Monterey Park. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends June 18. $15. (323) 260-8166. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.