`NIGHTHAWKS' EVOKES HOPPER BEAUTIFULLY.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

There's no mistaking those mustard-colored walls, the twin urns, that coffin-shaped counter and the counter attendant who looks like he's poised to blitz the customer at the far end.

We have entered Edward Hopper's iconically lonely painting ``Nighthawks.'' The props, the colors are true. The actors are poised in a meticulous re-creation. The setting has, of necessity, been breached. No longer is this dead-end-ish diner entirely a fishbowl. A downstage door serves as an entrance. Patrons can finally exit and enter this diner.

Ingress/egress is, of course, critical, because Douglas Steinberg's new play, ``Nighthawks,'' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, attempts to flesh out the narrative details of Hopper's painting, explaining who these people are and their relation to each other.

It's a desperate little tale Steinberg is spinning, and director Stefan Novinski and the seven-person cast paint their canvas richly. A willingness to accept Steinberg's interpretational overlay is pretty much a prerequisite here. This is a much-beloved, much- discussed (and much-copied) painting, after all, and some will swallow this ``Nighthawks'' scenario more easily than others.

closed-off, feel of Donna Marquet's set, A. Jeffrey Schoenberg's spot-on 1940s duds, and the evocative lighting design supplied by Rand Ryan.

The couple at the counter -- Steinberg posits -- aren't actually a couple, although they should be. The solitary customer sitting opposite is a nearly mute painter. The redhead at the counter is raising a niece. The niece dances with a draft-dodger. There's a brouhaha over local mobsters and the purchase of black-market meat.

And there is all measure of ennui-born fear and desperation to which the customer (played by Morgan Rusler) becomes witness. Mae, the redhead (played by Colette Kilroy) who used to dance, is now married to small-time hash slinger Quig (Dan Castellaneta). Affording some measure of relief is Sam, (Brian T. Finney) a polio-stricken bellhop who loves Mae but can't quite possess her.

The urgency with which director Novinski infuses the tale -- complete with music and some stop-start technical theatrics -- runs somewhat counter to the image ``Nighthawks'' the painting offers. That's cool. Losers, even trapped ones, should have their own energy.

Among the cast, Finney particularly shines as the bellhop who is too anonymous -- and too weak -- to be anything other than a pawn. I'd offer that ``Nighthawks'' ultimately proves to be Sam's tale more than any other character's, but the same case could be made for Mae. As Steinberg's play -- and the painting itself -- so artfully demonstrates, it's all about perspective.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

NIGHTHAWKS - Three and one half stars

Where: Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Sept. 24

Tickets: $20 to $40. [phone].

In a nutshell: A much-discussed painting is dramatically exposed.