A DEFT WAY TO DEAL WITH 9/11 AFTERMATH.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

The 9/11 play as we know it has taken a turn for the indescribable. Attention should be paid.

The events of ``Recent Tragic Events,'' winningly performed at NoHo's Theatre Tribe, center around an existential all-nighter in a Minnesota apartment on Sept. 12, 2001. The participants are an advertising executive, her bookstore manager blind date, a Kramerian neighbor and his zonked-out squeeze.

Making things even more cosmically delightful, playwright Craig Wright has made use of a red-herring stage manager, sound effects used for comic purposes, and author Joyce Carol Oates portrayed by a sock puppet and voiced by the bare-bottomed actress playing the aforementioned neighbor's girlfriend.

Crazy stuff, this, but powerful and affecting nonetheless. Director Stuart Rogers has, in effect, melded two plays together: a kooky first encounter between a man and woman who might be too well-

matched and a painful meditation on freedom, free will and determinism. In the course of a single evening, the fate of a character we never meet becomes vitally important to our heroine, her date and -- by extension -- to us.

Rogers and his deft ensemble work Wright's grab bag with real skill. It can be no easy prospect working ``Tragic Events''' humor and tonal shifts, but the Tribe is on sure ground. < Things start innocently enough. Andrew (played by Nathan Brooks Burgess) arrives, twitchy and anxious, at the apartment (open, expansive and quite tastefully designed by Jeff McLaughlin) of Waverly (Dawn Burgess). This is a first date, and Andrew is early, meaning Waverly needs some time to dress and dry her hair. A perusal at the books on Waverly's shelf is enough to temporarily send a panicked Andrew fleeing from the apartment. And he gets locked out.

Let's back up a second. Before Andrew and Waverly meet, stage manager Kyle Colerider-Krugh has asked an audience member to flip a coin, and informed us that the heads or tails result dictates the play's sequence of events. A soft beep -- heard periodically -- signals something that might have changed had the coin landed differently. Which makes for some mind-bending contemplation when you get a series of staccato beeps during the discussion of pizza toppings.

Back to the play. Before Andrew and Waverly can actually go on their date, the apartment is invaded by Waverly's best bud from down the hall, Ron (Drake Simpson). The news coverage churning out updates on Waverly's TV serves a vital purpose since Waverly's twin sister, Wendy, a New Yorker, has not been heard from since the towers fell. With the phone constantly ringing, a distracted Waverly decides she'd rather stay in. Andrew and Ron remain as well. The aforementioned guests (in the form of Tara Orr, actress and sock puppet wielder) arrive to complete the party.

The world may indeed be in crazy tragic flux, and one of the characters may -- through sheer coincidence -- possess some critical information. Inside Waverly's apartment, however, the beer flows, games are played and the discussion gets meaty.

Orr, so rag doll and glazed as Ron's girlfriend Nancy, is whip smart and insightful as the voice of Oates (hiding behind her own hair, she brings off the ventriloquism splendidly). Oates' philosophical tete a tete with Simpson's Ron is a thing of beauty, as is the sensitivity with which she has to fend off the questions of an adoring Andrew (she's his favorite author, after all).

Equally deft is the interplay between shy and conflicted Andrew and brittle, circumstance-crossed Waverly. Dawn and Nathan Burgess (husband and wife off stage) lock into who these characters are, beautifully negotiating the start of a relationship that could develop into something deep and substantial or something that might fall apart before it even gets started.

Perhaps Wright could toss a coin and pen a sequel.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

RECENT TRAGIC EVENTS - Three and one half stars

Where: Theatre Tribe, 5267 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; through July 22.

Tickets: $15 to $20. [phone] or visit www.theatremania.com.

In a nutshell: Even though it's set in Minneapolis, Craig Wright's play makes 9/11 dramatically real.

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Photo:

Nathan Brooks Burgess, left, Dawn Burgess and Drake Simpson star in the North Hollywood-based Theatre Tribe's Southern California premiere of ``Recent Tragic Events.''