Katharine Gray's "516' by Philadelphia Theatre Workshop

If nothing else, Katharine Clark Gray's tedious and meandering 516 invites an interesting inquiry: How should a critic or theatergoer respond to a play that blatantly takes one of its plot points or themes from another author's work? In 516, Gray swipes one of each from Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things.

To be sure, Shakespeare stole Hamlet from a myth and Romeo and Juliet from Italian poets. All creation is merely re-creation. So you could view Gray's recycling as an homage to LaBute. But Shakespeare improved on the originals. Gray flunks that test.

Gray's title refers to a college course catalogue number for Media Studies, a "crap class taught by a wanker" in the MFA Film program at an unnamed Northeast university. Gray's wealthy protagonist Sigurd (Kevin Meehan) hires the over-educated, underemployed Annalee (Emilie Krause) to write the remainder of his papers so he can focus on his thesis. At first, Annalee scoffs at the value of penning 20 pages about "Dancing with the Stars" or "Celebrity Cameos in the Simpsons," but beastly sex and aggressive argument soon wins her over.

Krause and Meehan contribute commendable performances, particularly since both develop along strongly defined arcs that span more than a year and require notable personality changes. Their sharply drawn characters and Gray's initially intelligent writing complemented even the creepy moments of the two characters' relationship. (The sickening sexual scenarios themselves paid homage to similar episodes in David Cronenberg films.)

In Act I Gray draws a brilliant parallel between the false intimacy of "friends with benefits" and the pure business relationship between ghostwriter and client. But the remainder of 516, for all its pretensions and intellectually compelling dialogue, fails to build a credible plot on what she borrowed from LaBute.

Act II ends with a ridiculous cliffhanger— "There's something you don't know"— that unintentionally evoked peals of laughter from the audience. The endless layers of deceit between Gray's third character, Professor Martie (Ann Gundersheimer) and the pair of students elicits nothing but exasperation, especially since Bill Felty's direction fumbles with the vacillating bully in Gundersheimer's portrayal.

I didn't particularly care for LaBute's Shape of Things, but at least he forged his theme around a plot that was coherent and engaging— and original.