A RIGHTEOUS WOMAN WREAKS EMOTIONAL HAVOC.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

Taking on no less a topic than the nature of evil, Murray Mednick leaves his audience on unsettled ground in ``Mrs. Feuerstein,'' his latest play, which has its premiere to close out Padua Playwrights Production's 2001 season.

The title character, a Holocaust survivor teaching creative writing at an East Coast high school, targets a fellow teacher and his crippled wife for wartime atrocities perpetuated by the Nazis. Using her imagination and a bit of psychological leverage, Adele Feuerstein decides to get to the husband through the sexual degradation of his wife. Guilt stricken and recognizing what Mrs. Feuerstein is up to, the wife submits.

This is twisted territory for Mednick, whose title character is part avenging angel, part self-destructive fanatic. No surprise that, according to the program notes, Mednick developed the idea from his readings of Jonathan Goldhagen's ``Hitler's Willing Executioners'' as well as a possible re-examination of Shakespeare's ``Hamlet.'' I don't know if Ariel Dorfman's ``Death and the Maiden'' ever crept into Mednick's subconscious; certainly the themes of the two plays - if not the locales - are similar.

The play is an allegory, and director Roxanne Rogers' staging leaves things a bit murky. It's never entirely clear how much of what we're witnessing is actually happening or even when (Bridget Phillips' costumes suggest perhaps the late 1950s). Adele Feuerstein (played by Maria O'Brien) spends much of the play talking to a therapist (Gwendoline Yeo) about the play she is going to write, and it's the play within a play - acted out by the participants - that seems to involve the revenge plot. Other scenes between the targeted couple, Max and Freida Wohl (Christopher Allport and Lynnda Ferguson) seem to be taking place outside the realm of Mrs. Feuerstein's imagination - meaning, presumably, they're real.

The therapy sessions give O'Brien's Adele the opportunity to touch on many of the playwright's themes. ``Do you want revenge?'' the therapist asks, a question that seems to take Mrs. Feuerstein by surprise. (Well, duh!) ``Is revenge enough?'' The therapist discusses Mrs. Feuerstein's case with her boss, (who appears to be a credentialed psychiatrist and a Jew to boot), but he doesn't intervene.

``Mrs. Feuerstein'' could afford to be a little less didactic and its supporting characters fleshed out a little more clearly. The Wohls' offenses are left unspecified (the playwright would probably argue that they're beside the point), but it's clear that Ferguson's Freida is toting around an awful lot of misery. O'Brien, with her churning, restless hands, is quite good in the title role. Perhaps a future draft will balance the perspectives of the two women so that Mrs. Feuerstein's quest runs into further problems.

Regardless, it's good to see Padua - a major force in the development of new writers when it was Padua Hills Playwrights Workshop/Festival - back in action.

``MRS. FEUERSTEIN''

Where: 2100 Square Feet, 5615 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; through Aug. 25.

Tickets: $20. Call [phone].

Our rating: Two and one half stars

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