Theater review: 'Mysterious Skin' at East West Players

It’s not outer space but inner demons that menace in “Mysterious Skin,” the dark drama now staged by East West Players at the David Henry Hwang Theater. Nerdy Brian (Scott Keiji Takeda) believes he was abducted by aliens at the age of 8, an event somehow tied to Neil (David Huynh), a former Little League teammate turned hustler. As Brian puts together the broken clues of his life, he begins to wonder whether he was probed by space creatures or experienced a close encounter of a more earthly kind. 

Gregg Araki filmed Scott Heim’s cult novel in 2004 to some acclaim, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Neil. This East West Players stage production captures a certain eerie vibe, enhanced by John Zalewski’s sound design and Alan E. Muraoka’s set, a chain link fence behind which looms a massive blue moon. But while Prince Gomolvilas’ adaptation contains some strong monologues, his sense of narrative falters. The storytelling is schematic, and Brian’s quest never feels as urgent as Neil’s self-destructive path. It’s a shortcoming that can’t be blamed on Takeda or Huynh, who give performances of affecting vulnerability. In their eyes, the terror and pleasure of contact are very real.

For mature audiences only.

--Charlotte Stoudt

“Mysterious Skin,” Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 10. $25-$35. (213) 625-7000 or www.eastwestplayers.org. Running time: 2 hours. 

Photo: David Huynh and Christine Corpus in "Mysterious Skin." Credit: Michael Lamont.

Comments

[Janet Tran]

I saw Mysterious Skin at East West Players and thought it was such a powerful and well-done play. The subject matter is tough and important, and is a great way to start a dialogue about traumatic experiences, especially in the API community. I highly recommend everyone to go see this play.

[Grant Barnes]

I saw this dramatization by Prince Gomolvilas of the novel by Scott Heim; beautiful work, with powerful performances -- the stories told by the actors are those their characters are capable of giving, and even the character who acts out his suppressed feelings most self-destructively is still capable of making good on one debt, and making up for it as best as a touch can.

A play that makes you want to get out of the theater because it's so strong and takes you even further, and further beyond that, is a work that really makes theater work as a communal, cathartic experience -- hardly redemptive but with greater clarity of how people can get where they are and as a reminder that life itself can explore what theater can teach can be explored after the lights come up.

[ArtsBeatLA]

This is a harrowing drama, but I agree the writing & dramatic momentum is lacking. Perhaps Gomolvilas cleaves too closely to his source material, Scott Heim’s presumably autobiographical first novel, because real people don’t actually talk like this.

Worth seeing, nevertheless.

[letopho]

Amazing adaptation by an all Asian American cast.

I felt empowered and impressed by the maturity of the performance.

Yes!