A Serving of Roast Laguna : Benefit: Spoof of everything from Pageant of the Masters to Chia Pets will raise money for AIDS support organization.

Asking Bree Burgess Rosen why she chose to lampoon Laguna Beach for the revue she has co-written is like asking why political cartoonists drew Ross Perot with ears the size of small South American countries.

“I live in Laguna,” Rosen says, rattling off a list of idiosyncrasies spoofed in the revue that leaves practically nothing sacrosanct: parking problems, chichi eateries, Save the Canyon environmentalists, “gazillion-dollar homes” and golf courses, City Council, nonstop tourists and even its annual Pageant of the Masters.

Don’t get Rosen wrong. There’s nothing vicious, she said, about “Lagunatics: A Musical Roast of Life in the Village.” It’s just that there’s plenty to poke fun at, she said. The revue will be staged Monday at Laguna Playhouse for the fourth annual A Day Without Art, an international AIDS commemoration that actually will be observed mostly on Tuesday.

“Lagunatics” “really spoofs the Southern California lifestyle in general--as it is perceived, not necessarily as it is,” Rosen said in a recent phone interview. “In one number, everybody cuts work and goes to the the beach. I suspect people in Iowa think that’s what we do here.”

An actress, singer and writer, Rosen penned satirical columns and shows for business conventions, appeared in television commercials and a soap opera and performed in hotel revues in Las Vegas before moving here four years ago. She is also a playhouse board member and will appear in Monday’s production, to benefit Laguna Shanti, an AIDS support organization.

Despite the number of AIDS cases in Laguna Beach--which has one of the highest per capita rates in the nation--the playhouse had never taken part in A Day Without Art, meant to draw attention to the devastation AIDS has wrought in the arts community. (“Lagunatics” is being performed Monday because a previously scheduled production of “The 1940s Radio Hour” occupies the theater on Tuesday, playhouse officials said). About 4,500 organizations around the world, and 17 others in Orange County, are participating in the commemoration this year.

Last year, the transition to artistic director Andrew Barnicle preoccupied the playhouse, officials said. But “Lagunatics,” an evening-length work with a 14-member cast, is among the most ambitious local projects this year.

The revue represents a true collaboration, said Rosen, who wrote it with playhouse volunteer actor Tim Dey and help from other cast and crew members.

“Our creative meetings consisted of getting silly and writing (ideas) down,” she said. “The next morning we’d get rid of the horribly obscene or offensive stuff and (keep) the funniest parts.”

Adapting songs from such existing musicals as “Once Upon a Mattress” and “Working,” the show’s director, Joe Lauderdale, who also directs the playhouse’s Youth Theater, and cast member Trisha Will helped write lyrics for two numbers, she added. Some vignettes are based on recent events, such as last summer’s South County mouse infestation, she said.

“My cat was catching like five to 10 mice a night. They say it was caused by a combination of rain and construction between north Laguna and Corona del Mar, but whatever the reasons, we were completely buried in mice. It was crazy.”

Older Laguna lore gets skewered too. There’s a swipe at the Pageant of the Masters, a 60-year-old tradition wherein volunteers are made up, dressed up and positioned on stage to look like famous art works.

“Lagunatics” could give a whole new meaning to the notion of fame, let alone art. Remember the Chia Pet?

“I don’t want to give it all away, but we re-create the amazing Chia experience on stage,” Rosen said.

Common phenomena--such as meeting a blonde Laguna High School student named Coral, born and raised in Laguna who works in a T-shirt shop--are also spoofed, as is Leisure World retirement village, which gets a less flippant treatment.

“It’s a beautiful duet with two guys singing ‘Old Friends’ by Paul Simon,” she said.

Rosen had been heavily involved with the AIDS cause in Las Vegas, where she started an organization to provide low-cost housing for people with AIDS.

Seeking to continue her involvement here, she approached Laguna Shanti, seriously threatened by financial woes in August, with the idea of a musical fund-raiser. She then arranged to present it at Laguna Playhouse, which fit with theater officials’ plans to observe A Day Without Art, she said. All proceeds will benefit Laguna Shanti, she added. Except for funds used to cover postage and printing, everything from coffee for rehearsals to the actors’ time has been donated.

Friends have asked Rosen why she didn’t create a more serious play to reflect the gravity of the AIDS crisis, she said.

“The idea here is to make Laguna Shanti more visible to the community and to emphasize that HIV is a community issue,” she said she has replied. “It’s not a gay issue, it’s a life issue, and it’s very easy to support the cause (when) you come and see a fun show.”

The revue ends, she added, with “a very positive, uplifting finale about empowerment and how you can make a difference.”

“I’ve lost a lot of friends (to AIDS) and continue to,” she said, “and getting in there and doing something helps alleviate some of that pain. I think I can speak for the entire cast and volunteers who have donated so much time and energy and talent to this that that’s their motivation as well; you know you actually did something to help make it better.”

“Lagunatics: A Musical Roast of Life in the Village,” will be staged Monday at 8 p.m. A silent auction of restaurant meals, theater tickets and other goods and services begins at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Tickets are $35 and $55. Benefits Laguna Shanti. Information: (714) 497-9244.