STAGE REVIEWS : Three One-Acts Show Signs of Talent

The three one-acts in Michael Lewis’ “Signs,” at Los Feliz Playhouse, have the same broad facility with dialogue that marked his “Prisoners,” seen earlier this year at the Complex. But Lewis still seems to be an author in search of something important to say.

The only successful one-act here is “Strike,” a sort of fugue in racial bigotry. Lewis is a fine Archie Bunker as the group leader, and Phil Jimenez’s performance appreciates the subtlety in the writing.

“Men at Work,” really sexually harassed women on a prisoners’ freeway clean-up workday, is ludicrously overstated and proves only that Lewis, like Mamet, writes better for men than women.

Just as ludicrous is the chance meeting at a freeway off-ramp of an attorney and a bag lady who had lost her house in a lawsuit brought against her by this same attorney. The play is distinguished only by the intricate performance of Helen Siff as the woman. “Signs,” Los Feliz Playhouse, 4646 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 12. $10; (213) 953-2823. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.