PLENTY OF DRAMA IN UHRY'S DRAMA `WITHOUT WALLS'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

There may not be an actor alive capable of believably uttering the line ``I love you, man'' in a context that doesn't involve the sale of beer. The phrase -- brewski free -- is used more than once in Alfred Uhry's drama ``Without Walls.''

Instead of inspiring the mixture of shock and pity that Uhry is attempting, the words generate giggles. Which, in a play that takes itself as seriously as this half-baked teacher/student/student triangle does, makes for a real problem.

Not helping matters in Christopher Ashley's production is the designated ``I love you, man'' played by Matt Lanter. This production is his professional stage debut, and the actor's green-ness does not work to his advantage.

Lanter plays a cocksure 17-year-old slacker named Anton McCormack who bulldozes his way into a free-thinking Manhattan prep school and catches the admiration of both the school's prized acting student, Lexy Sheppard (Amanda MacDonald), and its popular drama teacher, Morocco Hemphill (Laurence Fishburne). Morocco thinks Anton has real talent. Lexy likes everything else about him.

Dewey Prep is staging ``The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,'' another play about an inspiring but line-skirting instructor, and Morocco casts Anton and Lexy as lovers. The openly gay Morocco, looking to speed Cupid's course, and help Lexy and Anton reach their respective individual potentials, has no qualms about holding private rehearsals in his apartment and then leaving for the evening to let his two students work on their ... er ... lines?

It's 1976, after all, and Dewey Prep is a progressive school. All together everybody: ``I love you, man!''

``Without Walls'' has Fishburne's presence going for it -- and little else. Uhry's attempt to evoke a more permissive age is trite, and the ``Miss Brodie'' overlay is laid on thick. Once Anton spends an extended Thanksgiving weekend in Morocco's apartment, you can probably guess down which track this train is chugging.

Uhry -- and, to a lesser extent, Ashley -- may simply love his Broadway musical-adoring Mr. Chips too much to crucify him. The play takes great pains to show Morocco's culpability (or lack thereof) in his own downfall, and a soggy reunion several years later between Morocco and Anton rings false and cliched.

Nonetheless, Fishburne -- bulked up and wearing unflattering '70s regalia -- seems to be having a high old time of it. He's given more time than he needs to cavort, preen and lecture (the play runs a mere 87 minutes), but the actor's righteous speech to a group of school administrators is a rousing little burst of dramatics. Heaven knows what kind of a teacher Morocco Hemphill would have been, but it would be great fun to be in a room when he's taking someone apart.

He'd mop the floor with Lanter's Anton. Lanter establishes his character as overconfident, petulant and entitled, but he isn't able to effectively yank Anton from jerk to lonely wounded kid. ''Without Walls'' is supposed to mark the student's journey as much as the teacher's. For that, you need to accept that this guy is actually a decent actor -- both on stage and in life.

MacDonald fares better. She also projects youthful confidence mixed with an ability to be swept up by the suggestions and enticements of more powerful men.

For what it's worth, MacDonald is also the only cast member who makes the hairdos and David C. Woolard's costumes look halfway decent. Ah, the '70s, what a fashionably unkind time it was.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

WITHOUT WALLS - Two stars

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through July 16.

Tickets: $42 to $55. [phone].

In a nutshell: Pass the Schlitz, Mr. Chips! An easily digested play with a flashy role for Laurence Fishburne.

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Laurence Fishburne stars in Alfred Uhry's ``Without Walls'' at the Mark Taper Forum.