STAGE REVIEWS : ‘TAKING OFF’

Subtitled “An Evening Away From the City,” this premiere of two one-acts by Richard J. Clayman at Odyssey Theater II is disappointingly uneventful. The plays lack momentum and sufficient conflict.

“Los Grandes Pescadores (The Great Fishermen),” directed by Gino Tanasescu, charts a weekend fishing trip among four adult friends, who sluggishly come to grips with themselves in a motel room. Only the feverish Mexican bellhop (Stephen Andrews) and the bookish odd-buddy-out (Anthony Duke) bring nominal life to the play.

“Rocky Mountain Sunday,” directed by David Jacobs, centers on a burgeoning romance between a couple of lost souls in a diner (the playwright himself and Leslie Hope, who has a tendency, when the demands become emotional, to shriek too much). But the staging confuses drama with lassitude. It’s slow.

Performances at 12111 Ohio Ave., West Los Angeles, at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Sundays; (213) 826-l626.