Chautauqua Theatre Alliance's new play Reunion has a cute premise. It follows a group of 1976 High School graduates through their first three decennial reunions. Through interactions, thought monologues, and responses to questions asked by an unseen videographer, we learn about how the characters were in High School and how they have - or, more frequently, have not - changed. Indeed, the characters, as we are introduced to them at their 10 year reunion, are so much like stereotypes of High School students, it is painfully clear that nobody has evolved in the interim. The nerds are still nerds; the jerks are still jerks; the virgin is still a virgin; the terminally perky are still terminally perky - even the black guy with the huge afro and gold chains still has the huge afro and gold chains.

(l. to r.) Stefan Umstead, Tom Bottelsen, Bernie Van De Yacht, Damon Shalit.

The problem with Reunion is that it isn't quite clear on what its rules are. This may have arisen because the show was written by its ten-member cast. Some have gone for near-realism, creating characters that come out of some sort of High School Reunion Laramie Project. Rachel Winfree, for instance, crafts Cricket, a backwards baseball-cap wearing woman who has applied her good head for business to running a local flesh club. Winfree also plays Sandi, a graduate's wife who bulldozes right over anything he might try to say. Sandi is a one-joke character, but her brief appearance is funny, because Winfree plays her in a realistic way that reminds us of people we know. On the other hand, other performers play characters so over the top they belong in a Saturday Night Live sketch. One of the worst offenders here is Christina Welsh's Hildy, a character who might as well be called "Stuck-Up Intellectual Woman." Hildy is a brain surgeon who thinks it's funny to tell a joke that requires a knowledge of Latin to understand, is always pushing her eyeglasses up her nose, never speaks in small words when a four-syllable synonym is available, and can't even walk across a room like a normal person (we're told she has a stiff neck because she was once stuffed in her locker). Oh yes, she also performs brain surgery in the parking lot. And the punchline for Hildy is that her stilted speech and jerky movements disappear once she finally gets a good lay.

Between Cricket and Hildy are a wide variety of characters - some funny, some not. By and large, the characters that try to get laughs solely from being overplayed stereotypes are the ones that fail. Victoria Delaney plays the super-peppy Carrie, who is supposed to be funny simply because she is super-peppy. At one point, she reads class notes from absent students, informing us (in 1996) that one of the nerdy students just got a job with the start-up America Online company, and he thinks it's going to be the next big thing. She, of course, perkily dismisses this in her Valley Girl way. The line earns nothing but silence - there is no humor in the simple fact of her being wrong. On the other hand, a much more successful attempt at comedy comes from David Shalit's Bo. Bo isn't that smart. But Shalit gives Bo a lot more than just "not being that smart." Bo has a certain friendly charm, and his earnest attempts to overly explain things ("I was going on ten years old. (Pause.) I was nine.") are pretty amusing.

At times, Reunion attempts to get serious, making a few statements about human relationships. It's all somewhat bittersweet because the characters have, at their 30th reunion, conversations they should have had ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. To see some of these characters, ten and twenty years out of High School, still ticked about who asked whom to the prom, or who danced with whom at the big dance, is incredibly sad. The show does manage a few touching moments, but you can't help but think these people are seriously messed up if it took them thirty years to finally resolve this stuff.

Reunion might work really well if played by actual High School students to a High School audience. The stereotypical characters at the reunions might seem a lot funnier to an audience that sees its fellow classmates in all of the characters, and enjoys poking fun at what they might turn into if they never change. And the fact that the characters don't really resolve things until thirty years down the road might serve as a cautionary footnote to the show, reminding students about what is really important, and encouraging them not to wait that long to preserve friendships. But played to an adult audience, with the exception of a few characters that are well-acted and one genuine laugh (earned at the expense of, of all things, the Tony Awards), the show just doesn't gel.

Chautauqua Theatre Alliance presents Reunion. Directed by Michael Caldwell and Rachel Winfree. Written and performed by Tom Bottelsen, Michael Caldwell, Victoria Delaney, Denise Moses, Damon Shalit, Stefan Umstead, Bernie Van De Yacht, Christina Welsh, Irene White & Rachel Winfree. Costumes by Megan Foster; Graphics by Diane Gavin; Lighting by Nathan Jones; Publicity by Phil Sokoloff; Set by Matthew Scarpino; Sound by Joe Schmo and Terry Southern; Stage Manager Heather McClain.

Reunion runs at the Egyptian Arena Theatre in Hollywood through September 22. Performances are Fridays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. For reservations and information, call (323) 960-8865.

Photo by Nathan Jones

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- Sharon Perlmutter