Strangers in a Familiar Land

Anyone with a tight budget and a hankering to seeChinglish, David Henry Hwang's Broadway comedy about how radically-and hilariously-different American and Chinese cultures are, should head to the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, where a scaled-down version ofChinglishcalledOutside Peopleis being performed.

Of course, it's not playwright Zayd Dohrn's fault that his 90-minute play was produced the same season as Hwang's two-act, but the two plays do speak to a certain lowest common denominator writing style that is popular right now.

In both plays, American men who have traveled to China for business purposes are shocked-shocked!-at how difficult the language is. Both shows feature a sexy Chinese woman (an archetype that goes at least as far back as Anna May Wong in Hollywood) who enters into a far-from-placid affair with the American. And, of course, there are plenty of cultural differences to play for laughs.

Chinglishat least had a circuitous way of getting there, not to mention a fabulous performance by Jennifer Lim. InOutside People, the play's finale is visible in its opening scene, and all we're left with is endurance. Brought to China by a college buddy, Malcolm (Matt Dellapina, playing the obvious inarticulate Jewish neuroses of his character) meets Xiao Mei (Li Jun Li) his first night in Beijing. From there, they fumble their way through an affair, as Malcolm casts her in a romantic peasant light and Mei seems to simply enjoy being with him. Tension rears its head thanks to Malcolm's college buddy and now employer, David (Nelson Lee), who throws a wrench into the burgeoning relationship.

There's not much else to Dohrn's story, and director Evan Cabnet can't make it seem like anything more than a pleasant distraction. Is the beautiful Xiao Mei taking advantage of Malcolm for a visa, as David claims? Is David as nice as he was in college? Will Malcolm ever tell his new girlfriend that he has herpes?

Scenes come and go, necessitating quick changes to the puzzle box of a set from Takeshi Kata, but they never add up. Mei has lunch with David's girlfriend Samanya (a quite good Sonequa Martin-Green), but their relationship, as unlikely and somehow touching as it is, stops there. Malcolm's job is rarely discussed until it becomes an important plot point in regards to David's true nature, and Mei is never really anything but a blank canvas, used by Dohrn as a litmus test for the characters of the other three. Culture clashes aren't new, but surely there's a fresher way of discussing them than that ofOutside People.

Outside People Through Feb. 4, The Vineyard, 108 E. 15th St. (betw. Irving Pl. and Park Ave.),www.vineyardtheatre.org; $70.