‘Interview’: Hollywood’s Age Problem

“Who needs clay tablets when you’ve got cable TV?” smirks Len Lesser as Jake, the wisecracking deity who drops by the studio for a metaphysical sound bite or two in “Interview With God” at Hollywood’s Egyptian Arena Theatre.

Jake’s penchants for corny jokes and dumb card tricks prove an endless irritant for his interviewer, veteran comedy writer Carl Borne (Tom Dahlgren), but even more unsettling are his uncanny insight and ability to invoke miracles.

But Carl doesn’t have time to ponder the implications that Jake is exactly who he says he is--he has too many problems of his own. A onetime Peabody and Emmy award winner, Carl is fighting a losing battle to keep his career alive in age-discriminating Tinseltown. The option on this idiotic pilot is his last shot, and he’s not happy about it.

With a sure hand, playwright L. Nathaniel Wolfe shrewdly leverages his screwball premise into a poignant meditation not only on the Hollywood “gray list”--writers unable to work because they’re considered too old--but on the inevitable sorrows of aging.

Without a trace of inflated melodrama, Dahlgren’s Carl brings pinpoint clarity to touching details--his story about hiring a college kid to pose as his collaborator in pitch meetings, inconsolable grief over his wife’s recent death, and the gnawing fear that he no longer serves a useful purpose.

Dahlgren isn’t as facile with the more humorous side of Carl, but Lesser’s Jake more than compensates with his mischievous Groucho-esque delivery. Elizabeth Burr, Dave Conrades and Darin Singleton assist in multiple supporting roles, as director Ginger Grigg deftly navigates the delicate tightrope between the play’s serious and comic sides.

Drawing jokes and philosophical inquiry from both wells in the Judeo-Christian heritage, Wolfe addresses in modern terms a central concern of both traditions: the value of an individual life. His mature, thoughtful treatment is compelling evidence of how much Hollywood misses in its fixation with youth-oriented material.

* “Interview With God,” Egyptian Arena Theatre, 1625 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 13. $20. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours.