A Wilde Turn From the OC To Ann Coulter

"Welcome to the Epic Theatre Center's Beauty on the Vine," a soothing, deep, male voice intones as the lights in the theater dim. He sounds like Barry White's sexy nephew. "Are you in the right place? If not, leave."

Those who are daring enough to stick around even after this warning are in for a treat-or, at least, a performance of a well-written, well-acted new play by Zak Berkman. Beauty on the Vine seamlessly moves back and forth between the past and the present to tell the story of Lauren Chickering, a beautiful, young, political commentator teetering on the brink of superstardom. Lauren hosts an ultra-conservative, late-night, radio talk show. She's something of a cross between Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, albeit an unapologetic feminist and more attractive than either of the aforementioned Republicans.

In the flashbacks, Lauren meets and falls in love with Sweet, a 30-something music critic of indeterminate race and the play's narrator. As he explains it: "Some people think I look black, some think Croate, some Jewish, some Cherokee. I got genocide face, that's all I know."

In the present, Sweet is alone. Lauren has recently been shot seven times, ostensibly by a "confessed stalker." It is implied that the murder "could be related to her marrying someone of my race," Sweet says. While he's trying to work through his grief, Sweet makes a shocking discovery-two girls, who went to the same high school as Lauren and idolized her, had plastic surgery to look exactly like the radio host. The rest of the play follows Sweet as he struggles to understand these women and uncovers a little more about their backgrounds.

Lauren and her doppelgangers-referred to as L2 and L3 in the play's program-are all played by Olivia Wilde, who is probably best known as that girl who kissed Mischa Barton on The OC a few years ago. Anyone who arrives at Beauty prejudiced against Wilde because of her less-than-stellar résumé-the actress has also been on a few quickly canceled TV series and has had roles in critically derided movies like The Girl Next Door and Turistas-will find themselves pleasantly surprised by Wilde's range.

The actress manages to endow the characters she plays with their own mannerisms and voices: Lauren speaks in a low, seductive purr that's perfect for the airwaves, while L2 has a rustic Southern accent, and L3 sounds as if she's constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. That perfect face is the only thing these three share. Lauren herself is by far Wilde's greatest creation-she is simultaneously provocative, the kind of person who says that the "liberal elite telling us we're all equal" is "the kind of thinking that's destroying America," and magnetic, incendiary, and compelling.

Generally speaking, Wilde is in good company. The only problem with Howard W. Overshown's portrayal of Sweet is his character's role as narrator. Too often, Sweet relays expositional material that should be clear from the action of the show itself. However, this is more of an issue for the playwright than for the actor, who does good work with the material he's given. Victor Slezak, playing Lauren's overprotective father, Daniel, is the one weak link in the cast. He appears to equate expressing nuanced emotion with yelling loudly.

Two other elements of Beauty are worth noting. The first is the show's set, which is made up of a set of glass panels that are sometimes transparent and sometimes mirrored and nicely reflects Beauty's themes about surface appearances and hidden depth. The second is the Beyond Beauty Initiative, which the Epic Theatre Center has launched in conjunction with the play. The show's program explains that the initiative is "an extensive outreach effort with two primary goals: 1) make deeper connections with young women who rarely attend the theatre and 2) provide opportunities for women of all ages and diverse backgrounds to share experiences and creatively explore how individual definitions of beauty, power, and success impact society as a whole."

Lauren Chickering would probably think that the initiative sounds like a bunch of hippie nonsense. The rest of us know, though, that the program proves, once and for all, that this Beauty is not just skin deep.