‘Homework’ Gives Lessons in Growing Up

Smart and witty, “Homework” at Actors’ Gang Theatre in Hollywood is less a play than a collection of interrelated sketches. But it’s a terrific vehicle for its gifted co-author and star, Kim Coles.

As fans of TV’s “In Living Color” and “Living Single” know, Coles is a versatile comic with a special knack for mimicry. Here she applies her talents to a semiautobiographical tale of three classmates (all played by Coles) and their journey to adulthood.

Kim is the decent-hearted wallflower who never quite blossoms; Shakronda the streetwise maverick who rides her smarts to Harvard Medical School; and Angela the snobbish beauty who graduates to Parisian haute couture. Spoofing an array of goofy teachers, fops and Svengalis is a talent-blessed four-man ensemble: Shaun Baker, Scotch Ellis Loring, Wolfgang Bodison and Gustavo Rex.

“Homework” is often at its funniest while ribbing the mundane. What could have been a perfunctory parody of junior high, for instance, turns into an inspired parody of Jerome Robbins’ “Cool” from “West Side Story.” Coles and co-writer and director Charles Randolph-Wright misfire only when proffering some drawn-out sentimentality in the second act.

The entire production--including the handsome school-themed set by Yael Pardess--bespeaks a healthy budget, at least by small theatrical standards.

* “Homework,” Actors’ Gang Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Saturdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Jan. 28. $18. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.