Five Bank Tellers, Two Jobs in 'Next Window, Please'

Not only is every one of the five bank tellers featured in "Next Window, Please," competent enough to keep her job, but they're also all really fine women who don't deserve to become unemployed. Unfortunately three of them are about to get laid off. Which three is it going to be, who's going to decide, and how is the decision going to be made?

If you're already hooked, you should definitely go see this new play at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood. But there's not much else going on here beyond the basic premise's inherent reminder that in today's tough times, when people are getting hurt unfairly, through no fault of their own, they can still maintain their human dignity and even nobility. Which is a worthy thing to be reminded of. And now we've just reminded you.

Yes, a love story does emerge in the second act. All five actors in the tellers' roles pull off decent foreign accents (though at least one of these seems gratuitous). And costume designer Angela M. Eads's array of urban professional office outfits is understatedly spectacular. The rest is a Lifetime movie drama punctuated with earnest monologues.

"Next Window, Please" plays Friday and Saturday nights at 8, Sundays at 2, through September 17; additional shows this evening at 7 and this Thursday, the 28th, at 8. Tickets $25.75 and $19.95 through the Group Rep web site, $14.50 on Goldstar and (with promo code 008) Plays 411, and $15 through LA Stage Tix.