A `HEARTBREAK'-ING LOOK AT SELF HELP.

Byline: Daryl H. Miller Daily News Theater Critic

``Heartbreak Help,'' the newest comedy by wryly observant Los Angeles playwright Justin Tanner, is about four women at a self-help conference who are struggling to get beyond the ``self'' and focus on the ``help.''

Affectionately lampooning life in the '90s once again, the award-winning author of such plays as ``Pot Mom'' and ``Intervention'' takes on the multimillion-dollar self-help industry, new-age hocus-pocus, women's bonding and more in a crisp production at his theatrical home: the Cast in Hollywood.

The lines speak true even as they crackle with humor, and the characters are fundamentally human, even if they seem slightly over the top. We know these people all too well, for in many ways, they are us.

The action unfolds in a cheap hotel room in Joshua Tree, realistically re-created on stage with battered Naugahyde chairs, cheesy landscape art and two full-size beds.

Here, four women - strangers who've signed up for the cheap rate at a new-agey women's self-help conference - are thrust into sudden intimacy as they share beds and, mostly by accident, their hearts.

Paula (Laurel Green) is a mousy, whining woman who obsesses over the small things in life but can't get a handle on the big ones. She's come to the conference hoping to cope with her emotions about a friend with AIDS. Margo (Ellen Ratner) is an outgoing, larger-than-life party girl who has a tendency to invade other people's space and push their buttons. She's hoping for help in maintaining relationships.

Andromeda (Carol Ann Susi) and Sage (Pamela Segall) are a bickering mother and daughter. Back home, Andromeda leads a small therapy group for women, called Heartbreak Help. She's come to the conference hoping to receive the blessing of her heroine, a Marianne Williamson-type self-help goddess, and thereby enhance her reputation. Sage - sullenly clutching a bottle of beer as she retreats into the music in her Walkman - just wants to avoid all the touchy-feely conference goings-on that her mother is pushing her to attend.

Under Tanner's direction, each moment is precisely rendered, from the way Margo unperturbedly curls up on the persnickety Paula's hypoallergenic pillow to Andromeda's grating nasal whine as she instructs Paula to focus on ``the gentle, soothing sound of my voice'' and waves her hands over Paula's prone body while attempting to clean her chakras (or some such foolishness).

The story touches on the very real disappointments, fears and heartbreaks of everyday life, as well as the belief-systems-turned-industries that try to sell people psychic Band-Aids in the form of such ideas as ``transformation'' - of releasing ``toxic'' emotions and becoming ``centered'' and ``at peace.''

The characters are so selfishly focused on their own needs that they overlook the fact that - even without the silly old conference - they have the power to help themselves and each other. Slowly but surely, however, small miracles begin to happen.

Tanner's plotting is a bit too abrupt at times, as characters change course with little motivation. But when all is said and done, we realize he has held a mirror up to society, quietly breaking our hearts even as we screamed with laughter.

THE FACTS The show: ``Heartbreak Help.''

Where: Cast Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays; through July 7.

Running time: Two hours, five minutes; one intermission.

Tickets: $15. Call [phone].

Our rating: Four Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Carol Ann Susi, left, Pamela Segall, Laurel Green an d Ellen Ratner get more than they expected at a women's self-help conference in ``Heartbreak Help,'' at the Cast Theatre in Hollywood.