The Sermons of John Bradley

Lex Theatre
6760 Lexington Ave., Hollywood
Friday-Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 7 p.m.
Through Feb. 1
Tickets: $17-20
sermonsofjohnbradley.com

Actor Hunter Lee Hughes has done indelible work on local stages in recent years, excelling in such plays as The In-Betweens, A Prayer for My Daughter and Trafficking in Broken Hearts. Among Hughes’ finest accomplishments was the poetic 2005 solo drama, Fate of the Monarchs, which he wrote and starred in, charting the partly autobiographical life adventures of a sexually conflicted man from Texas. Hughes is back in the semi-autobiographical saddle again with his new work. It’s far less successful than Monarchs, yet it offers scattered laughs and affecting moments, providing the actor with some fine scenes.

The episodic play centers around a series of monologues delivered by the titular character (Hughes), starting with a church sermon in rural Texas in 1999, and encompassing lectures and other pontifications from Bradley, moving forward to 2008. Two actors (Mary T. Sala and Gavyn Michaels) have small supporting roles, and Elizabeth Gordon takes on bit parts. Yet this is 90-percent a solo vehicle, following Bradley’s life journey from repressed son of a hypocritical preacher, to activist espousing gay marriage, to repentent youth in a gay-reparation ministry, to emotionally conflicted son attending his father’s funeral.

As sermon and drama aren’t generally compatible elements, the early segments suffer from long-windedness and repetition of points. The play doesn’t truly come alive until a wryly funny scene in a meth recovery center, which unexpectedly turns into a strained reunion between Bradley and his ex-lover (Michaels). Michaels is an actor-model of stunning beauty and boasts a pleasing stage presence, but there’s not enough here for him to demonstrate any acting ability. Sala makes a valiant effort as a soothsaying shaman woman, but this framing device is contrived. Her drum-pounding and eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations with audience members quickly becomes a yawn, if not unintentionally funny. That leaves it to Hughes to ignite dramatic sparks in his monologues and scattered interactions with the other actors. He has a strong charisma, energizing the text with vocal variety and commitment to the material, bringing out the flashes of wit and poignancy in the text. One hopes Hughes retools this promising piece, perhaps excising the pretentious voodoo nonsense, giving more weight and dimension to supporting characters and condensing or cutting the redundant portions. He’s a theater artist worth watching, and a revamp of his heartfelt but problematic work would be well worth the effort.

—Les Spindle