Be Aggressive

Annie Weisman's Be Aggressiveplays as a hybrid genre, and the production struggles to find its footing in the world of "dramedy." The end result is a comedy that isn't as funny as it should be and a drama that isn't as meaningful as it could be. Having recently lost her mother in a hit-and-run accident, 17-year-old Laura needs cheerleading as an outlet for her grief, but her father, a candidate for worst parent in the wealthy California town of Vista Del Sol, thinks that's a waste of time. Domestically incompetent and inexplicably unwilling to hire help, he insists that Laura assume all her mother's responsibilities, including cooking, cleaning, and carting around her hyper-articulate 11-year-old sister. Laura finds a friend in Leslie, another cheerleader with a parallel parenting situation, and together they plan an escape to an intense cheerleading camp in North Carolina. The second act moves between the girls' verbal riffs on an unplanned route to "the south" and painfully awkward scenes between the two parents. Weisman's linguistic gymnastics are fun, and she's got plenty of one-liners, but Be Aggressivenever reaches its full potential. BRENT ARONOWITZ 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends March 29.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: March 7. Continues through March 29, 2008