STAGE REVIEW : Mimers Connect Atomic-Test Dots

In 1954, John Wayne made the movie that may have killed him.

Like 91 of the 220 people who worked on “The Conqueror,” Wayne developed cancer. Later, 46 of them died from it.

The movie set was in St. George, Utah, near an atomic testing range where 11 bombs were detonated the year before.

Coincidence? Not according to the San Francisco Mime Troupe, which points a finger at these developments in “Secrets in the Sand.” The show played in San Diego Wednesday and then moved to Culver City, where its second and final performance is tonight.

As always, the Mime Troupe counterpoints seriousness with a fictional, comic-book delivery.

In “Secrets of the Sand,” singer Melody Braxton is the daughter of an actor in the movie. She tries to “connect the dots” of the deaths. She does so, with the help of the bumbling son of Roy McCoy (the John Wayne figure).

Six members of the troupe tackle several parts each with style and wit in a bumpy script (from 1983 but updated for this tour) by Robert Alexander, Ellen Callas, Joan Holden “and the company.” Brian Freeman’s staging sometimes jerks too abruptly from earnestness to farce, but it does make you laugh and think.

“Secrets in the Sand” isn’t seamless. The obvious costumes and crayon-like set are nothing special, and the music is largely forgettable. But the show is important.

It argues that Wayne, the super patriot, was as good as killed by the country he loved. That Wayne and his family decided not to sue the government for concealing the truth about the site--fearing that they would seem disloyal--makes the story even more poignant.

At Robert Frost Auditorium, Culver City High School, tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets: $15-$25; (213) 396-1134.