D.C. Klunch theater presents Elaine May’s ‘George Is Dead’ play

The District’s Klunch theater troupe is staging Elaine May’s one-act “George Is Dead,” to run through Dec. 19 at the DC Arts Center in Northwest. Directed by Ian Allen, the show runs a brisk — though anxiety-inducing — 60 minutes in a text that is by turns laughter-inducing and difficult to behold.

The show opens with Carla (Fiona Blackshaw) wearily perched on a couch in her sweats. The doorbell rings to reveal longtime friend Doreen (the excellent Kerri Rambow) announcing that George, her husband, has, in fact, passed from this mortal coil.

Apparently never one to deal — or to realize the full gravity of such situations — Doreen, showing not a whit of grief, proceeds to make herself at home, impressing upon Carla for ever-increasing requests that start with food and tea but rapidly ramp up to essentially demanding she host her overnight, and perhaps for the foreseeable future.

And what of George’s body, Carla inquires, stuck in a Colorado resort near where he died on the ski slopes? Doreen seemingly wishes to pay the situation no mind, for reasons that become increasingly clear.

Carla, meanwhile, is having marital woes with Michael (John Tweel), who shows up at the apartment in an agitated state that becomes even more inflamed upon finding the whirling dervish Doreen in his cozy New York apartment.

Ms. May has always had a nose for finding the humor in otherwise-uncomfortable situations, most notably in her collaborations with the late, great film director Mike Nichols, with whom she first collaborated in a comedy stage duo and later wrote two of his films, “The Birdcage” and “Primary Colors.” As in those works, the laughter in “George Is Dead” comes from potentially humiliating, certainly embarrassing, situations and a certain degree of discomfort that only ramps up as the play reaches its sudden, harsh conclusion.

The cast features Jean H. Miller, Tom Neubauer, Alex Diaz-Ferguson and Mark Osele, with able lighting of the compact set by David C. Ghatan.

The show runs at DC Arts Center through Dec. 19. Tickets are $20 to $35 by visiting TheKlunch.com.