When Cockroach Theatre's one-hour "Tattoo Girl" is in top form -- which is most of the time -- it achieves a reality one rarely sees in local drama.

For all of the script's dazzle, this is a simple story about a woman trying to find herself. Director John Lorenz is clever, but his work stands out because it's human. You leave the performance pleasantly eager to contemplate values.

Naomi Iizuka's 1994 serio-comedy captures the zany but well-grounded "Candide" spirit of Donald Barthelme's 1972 short story "Perpetua." Our heroine (Amber Ward), named after the Christian martyr, who, legend has it, survived being thrown to the lions when the lions refused to attack her, leaves her dull husband (Alex Pink) and son (Leonardo Portillo) to find the extraordinary in life.

She meets everyone from Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci (Jamie Jones) to a woman (Jamie Carvelli) who has become famous for the huge tattoo on her back prominently featured in a men's magazine. The ending isn't quite a happy one, but it suggests Perpetua has made some profound discoveries about the meaning of it all.

The script is, mostly, a series of "meetings" between Perpetua and about two-dozen characters. It's extraordinary how totally Lorenz and cast get us to believe in most of these people in such a short time. Lorenz demonstrates a professional-level ability to create a world underneath the spoken line. And his fluid command of visual composition and movement go a long way in sustaining our interest in the script's humor and thought.

Ward's Perpetua is equally tough and vulnerable. She never overreaches for sympathy, but we feel deeply for her. Pink brings unusual depth and naturalness to the husband. He's a major talent. Carvelli makes the tattoo party girl a flesh-and-blood person. It's always interesting to read her face because she gives her character so much moment-to-moment life. Scott Johnson and Levi Fackrell deliver beautifully quirky performances in a variety of roles. And the remarkable Bobby Rodgers, as the bellowing Marshal Ferdinand Foch, gives the sort of cameo tour de force actors dream of being able to achieve.

Once or twice the production's in-your-face style gets in the way of the story (a plot line involving a hops farmer rings particularly false). And Jessica Betts' constantly dim lights (no doubt the result of the director's vision), are headache-strength pretentious. But set designer Scott Fadale's elegant platforms feel toweringly perfect, and Lorenz's costumes are enjoyably tongue-in-cheek without slipping into silly.

"Tattoo Girl" is an exciting evening, especially for fans of quietly effective acting. I don't know that I've ever seen a community show that featured such a smooth ensemble. The performances by the 10 actors bleed into one another so effortlessly that the production seems to be the product of one brain.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.