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Cryptogram. A cryptogram is a text written in code and that's exactly what this play feels like. For 80 minutes playwright David Mamet weaves a repetitive and inscrutable maze of dialogue, taking his time to get to the point. The drama, set in 1959, is about loss of innocence, infidelity, and the growing mystery behind a child's bizarre insomnia. Mamet's dialogue in this production is choppy, self-aware, and so un-natural sounding one wants to yell out after 30 minutes, "Just speak normally!" In a talk-back after the show with director Patrick Dooley, it was revealed that the cast agonized over the minute meaning and timing of every instance of Mamet's specific punctuation. The result is a performance that sounds more like a cryptic mathematical word equation than a story of a family in crisis. The small cast of three actors is obviously talented, and props go out to seventh-grader Gideon Lazarus for maturely handling his complex role. But it's only when the adults (Zehra Berkman and Kevin Clarke) begin to drink and slips of speech reveal dark secrets that this production becomes less affected and more intriguing. In one respect Mamet succeeded in writing a cryptogram because as one audience member said while exiting, "It is a weird play. I don't know what it means." Through June 17 at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby (Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Adeline), Berkeley. Tickets are $17-25; call 510-841-6500 or visit www.shotgunplayers.org. Reviewed May 23. (N.E.)

First Person Shooter.Aaron Loeb's drama depicts the aftermath of a massacre at an Illinois high school. The play follows what happens after a videogame developer discovers a message on its Web site from the teenage killers thanking the company for creating "Megaton," a videogame that they say helped them to "practice" for their real-life shooting spree. Unusually for a work of art developed so close to calamitous events — in this case, mid-April's Virginia Tech massacre — the play focuses on examining the horrific incident from a multi-dimensional perspective rather than pinning the blame on a single party. Over the course of two hours, the playwright describes the fallout of the shootings from the perspective of the videogame company employees, the parents of the victims, the gunmen, the public relations consultants, lawyers hired to take sides, and the media. Unfortunately, the play seeks validity for so many viewpoints that the dramaturgy suffers. Many of the exchanges seem repetitive (why repeat Kerry's wife's death scene multiple times when once would suffice?) and/or twice as long as they ought to be. Similarly, the prevailing wisecracky videogame industry-speak quickly becomes as predictable as failing to get beyond Level 1 on a game of Gears of War. Though undeniably a bold effort, the play doesn't quite hit us between the eyes. Extended run through June 16 at SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter St. (between Powell and Mason), S.F. Tickets are $36; call 677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org. (C.V.) Reviewed May 23.

Hair. I had such an enjoyable time at the Mountain Play's current staging of Hair, high atop Mount Tamalpais, that I went twice to take in the full experience. The production features close to 40 actors, a fully tripped-out band, and even a smoke-filled VW bus skidding to the front of the outdoor amphitheatre. The musical, which shocked and delighted audiences back in the Summer of Love (first rock musical, first openly gay character on Broadway, drugs, and nudity!), feels rather tame and clichéd by today's standards. A bunch of scraggly hippies singing endless songs justifying flower power, long hair, LSD, and group sex must seem rather quaint to the audience that looked like they lived it all 40 years ago. This production is joyful and celebratory if a bit dated — and unfortunately lacking naked actors — but what really stands out is the entire experience that your ticket buys. Pack a picnic, bring the wine, as well as the kids and old friends, and park the car down in Mill Valley. School buses shuttle huge audiences to the mountain top with outrageous views, musicians play pre-and post-show acts, bottles of soap-bubbles are given out, and ice cream and cheeseburgers are sold. Afterward, a bus will take you back, or for the adventurous there's a beautiful, and optional, six-mile hike down. A brilliant way to spend a lazy Sunday. June 17 is the final show at Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, Mount Tamalpais State Park (see Web site), Marin. Tickets are $25-35; call 383-1100 or visit www.mountainplay.org. Reviewed June 6. (N.E.)

Hurlyburly. A couple of finely nuanced and touching performances aren't enough to hold together this three-hour-long play about guys in Hollywood trying to make sense of the near misses and outright failures of their lives. Christian Phillips and Scott Agar Jaicks capture the tough-guy ribaldry and stunted emotional capacity of playwright David Rabe's main characters, two unlikely best friends who know how to talk the game but have no idea how to deal with the world around them. But the choice to stage nearly all of the play with actors sitting on — or, for variety, standing behind or next to — two large couches sucks all the dynamic life out of this story. What moments of revelation or insight the actors discover are quickly swallowed up by the set, which might mimic the mediocrity of these characters' lives but does nothing to engage us with the journey of the play. Through June 23 at Actors Theatre of San Francisco, 855 Bush St. (between Mason and Taylor), S.F. Tickets are $10-30; call 345-1287 or visit www.actorstheatresf.org. Reviewed June 6. (M.R.)