They Plan to Pull No Punches, Take No Prisoners

ORANGE — In Dave Barton’s small apartment in Orange, a group calling itself the Rude Guerrillas rehearsed its first assault on Orange County sensibilities, something that Barton boasted would be “in your face--immediately in your face.”

Law enforcement need not be concerned, however; the Rude Guerrillas are a nonviolent theater troupe, the latest in a stream of amateur thespians who seek to provoke discussion through art. And their first work, “In the House of the Lord,” promises to be provocative, if nothing else.

“In the House of the Lord,” opening tonight at the Huntington Beach Art Center, explores the tense hours inside an abortion clinic that has been commandeered by armed Christian fundamentalists.

The play amounts to a sort of “Elmer Gantry” meets “Dog Day Afternoon,” as inchoate spiritual aspirations intersect the tangled, temporal lives of characters brought together under extraordinary pressure.

“In the House of the Lord” springs from the shared history of Barton and co-writer Lee Margrave, veterans of Orange Coast College’s theater program and the abortion rights movement.

(Barton and Margrave worked as escorts for women seeking to enter clinics besieged by anti-abortion protesters and in 1995 translated their experience into a 40-minute one-act work for the Costa Mesa college’s original play festival.)

In taking an expanded, 105-minute version to Huntington Beach, Barton and Margrave bring along many OCC classmates who share their hunger for topical theater.

“It’s important to do,” says Jenn Ortiz of Costa Mesa, who played one of the hostage-takers in the one-act and reprises her role for the Rude Guerrillas. “I mean, what community theater is going to put this on?”

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“In the House of the Lord” has much that would discomfit a mainstream, suburban theater. The play does not shy from jabbing local icons; the fundamentalist couple who take over the clinic are named Paul and Jan--which, Barton says, was inspired by Paul and Jan Crouch, religious broadcasters based in Santa Ana.

But the Rude Guerrillas are not easily typecast for their views. Susan Shearer-Stewart plays Gail, a middle-aged woman who decides to have an abortion after learning that her baby would be mentally retarded. The role is a stretch for Shearer-Stewart, who opposes abortion.

“I’m a Christian, so it’s interesting to portray someone who’s going to do something that I don’t believe in,” says Shearer-Stewart, a Huntington Beach resident who is also a temporary office worker.

Concerned that the play might send the wrong message, Shearer-Stewart prevailed upon the writers to change the description of the hostage-takers. Instead of being called “Christians,” they are now referred to as “fundies,” for fundamentalists.

Steven Parker, who plays chief fundie Paul, had to get inside the head of a character whose views he abhors. “As a male, I believe women should have freedom of choice,” says Parker, 25, of Costa Mesa. Yet, he says, “If I were a woman, I think I would be pro-life for myself. I don’t think I would ever have an abortion.”

These conflicting views make the role of Paul a challenge, he says.

“To be able to dive into a character like this and take the reins, knowing his beliefs and knowing mine--it’s a struggle,” says Parker, who has appeared in a Spanish-language AT&T; commercial and also is a waiter.

For Barton, 37, an electronics technician, the play also touches on deeply personal issues. Raised in Orange County as a fundamentalist Christian, Barton says he became disenchanted with church when he learned of financial improprieties at his evangelical high school.

“When I started to question that out loud, the anvil of organized religion came crashing down on my head.” Now, he says, “I look at the Pauls and Jans of the world, and it breaks my heart.”

Nevertheless, Barton says, his background gives him a sympathy for believers. “I’m obviously pro-choice, but there’s a huge part of me in these people. We didn’t want our fundamentalists to be cartoon characters.”

Some of Barton’s expectations were challenged as he assembled props for tonight’s premiere. Visiting religious bookstores throughout Orange County, Barton searched for anti-abortion literature with photos of bloody fetuses. He couldn’t find any--and found himself chastised for asking.

“One woman who worked in a Christian bookstore really put me in my place,” Barton said. “She took me aside and said, ‘We’re all pro-life here, but taking pictures of dead fetuses and putting them in color in a book is disgusting. I won’t carry them here.’ ”

Barton had to make do with black-and-white photos downloaded from anti-abortion Internet sites. “We do have a fetus in a jar, though,” he says--a plastic fetus. “We bought it from a prop company. It looks like a little alien in a bottle. We threw in some tea bags and food coloring. It makes a nice brown embryonic fluid.”

Is it gauche to brag about the verisimilitude of such props? Perhaps, but Barton says that’s the point.

“Guerrilla theater is rude; it makes you think. Theater should be brain food.”

* Rude Guerrilla Theater Company presents Dave Barton and L.A. Margrave’s “In the House of the Lord” at the Huntington Beach Art Center, 538 Main St. 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday. $8-$10. Through Aug. 31. (714) 281-6814.