An Erotic (But Unrequited) Evening with Anais Nin

Was Anais Nin the prototype of the black widow sex blogger, fucking her friends and throwing them under the bus at a gradually diminishing per-word rate? No; an L.A. show finds the cosmopolitan Nin embodying a certain generosity of spirit.

"Anais: An Erotic Evening with Anais Nin" imagines the prolific erotic diarist on a lost 1950s weekend at an Arizona mental institution, there to visit her muse and unrequited love, June Miller. Miller has attempted suicide and requested to see Nin only.

Could this be Nin's big chance? According to authorities, tearful sex is still sex.

As written by Michael Phillips and played by the Russian transplant Sonia Maslovskaya, Nin's character comes to life textually and physically (Maslovskaya bears a striking resemblance, though taller) in this one-woman show.

Playing Fridays and Saturdays through October 16 at the Sherry Theatre in North Hollywood, "Anais: An Erotic Evening with Anais Nin" is a spare production on a tiny stage. As written and played, the best days of Nin are behind her; she busts a move on Miller's psychiatrist just to see if she's still got it, she spars with the ghost of Henry Miller (who still had three decades to live), and finally, in Act II, she meets the patient and finds out why she alone got visiting privileges.

While not a Shyamalan-level twist ending, the finale of the "Erotic Evening" did cause this reviewer to cry "Damn that's cold," as if he were watching Tropic of Superfly.

· "Anais: An Erotic Evening with Anais Nin" (reelalchemyproductions.com)