Burning dialogue doesn’t warm up ‘Hesperia’s’ plot

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Nathan Hosner and Kelly O'Sullivan in "Hesperia." | Photo by Michael Brosilow

Updated: February 7, 2012 7:52PM

Do a quick Google on “born again porn stars” and you’ll find there’s a surprising number of Evangelicals who gave up so-called sins of the flesh upon finding Jesus. Yet despite its grounding in an apparently not uncommon phenomenon, Randall Colburn’s “Hesperia” strains credulity.

The story of sex workers striving to make new lives in a wholesome heartland far from Hollywood’s den of flesh-peddling iniquities has the marks of a writer gifted in dialogue and able to see intense depths in characters all too often played as stereotypes. Still, the Writers’ Theatre remount of a script seen in a Right Brain fringe production in 2010 is marred by a script that’s hamstrung by improbabilities.

Directed with unsparing intensity by Stuart Carden, “Hesperia” (named for the small Midwestern town where it’s set), opens with promise. Ian (Nathan Hosner), brooding, dark-eyed and clearly anguished, is in mid-conversation with Jessica (Kelly O’Sullivan). Jessica is the blonde beauty who was both his best childhood friend and his love interest both onscreen and off after both fled troubled families, headed west and carved out careers as adult movie stars.

Colburn’s dialogue is spare and emotional, filling in the gaps in Claudia and Ian’s story without lapsing into clunky exposition. She’s now calling herself Claudia and has found both Christianity and a new mate. Having left Ian without a word (and having clearly left him heartbroken), she’s sent him a wedding invitation. Her intended? The local youth pastor, Trick (Erik Hellman).

And here’s where “Hesperia” begins to become unlikely. Not only is Trick totally fine and forgiving about Claudia’s past as Jessica, he’s willing to welcome Ian into their home as a temporary houseguest (albeit on a couch in the garage), invite him to church and set him up with his untried cousin.

In theory, Christianity is based on such amazing feats of compassion. With Trick, the situation doesn’t read as compassionate so much as it does sexual disinterest in the woman he’s engaged to. Fortunately, the secret heart of a gay youth pastor is not where Colburn is going in Hesperia. Unfortunately, Trick appears so sexually milquetoast toward Claudia that it seems like he’s a closet case, even if the script makes it clear he isn’t.

Yet that’s not the deal breaker here. What does derail “Hesperia’s” plausibility is the premise that absolutely nobody in the tiny town knows of Jessica’s past except Trick. Yes, there’s a DVD that shows up late in the story — which only emphasizes the highly unlikely fact that nobody in town seems to have access to Internet porn. Even that would be possible, had Jessica and Ian not grown up in a town within the same high school athletic conference as Hesperia.

Surely somebody a mere town or two over would have known what happened to Ian after he stopped running track in high school and lit out west with his girlfriend. As if to explain away this plot hole, Colburn goes out of his way to stress that Jessica and Ian never spent any time in Hesperia growing up (except, apparently, for the occasional track meet). Despite that repeated insistence, it’s tough to imagine that news of Jessica and Ian’s ascension in the skin flick field surely wouldn’t have spread.

Finally, there’s a subplot between Ian and Daisy that is distracting, inconsequential, and confusingly conflicts with Ian’s feelings about Jessica.

What saves “Hesperia” is Colburn’s ability to upend stereotypes and dig deep into his characters’ psyches. The porn stars here are not amoral, self-loathing libertines. The Christians are not judgmental, close-minded, holy rolling simpletons. Carden elicits a gentle, humane warmth from Hellman’s portrayal of Trick. As Jessica, O’Sullivan mingles the wounded sadness of lost innocence with a steely, determined anger to keep the past firmly in the past.

As a gawky teenager trying to juggle the pure thoughts with adolescent lustful longings, Tyler Ross walks off with every scene he’s in. Hosner doesn’t fare so well; the vibe he radiates is more Marlon Brando than Harry Reems.

Overall, “Hesperia” is a mixed bag. The dialogue often burns. But the plot could use some work.