Extinction

A friend quit teaching screenwriting at USC because, as she put it, "I got tired of reading stories about guys trying to get laid in Las Vegas." Her remark leapt to mind when Gabe McKinley's world-premiere play, Extinction, unfolded at Elephant Space in Hollywood. It deals with two old college buddies, Max (Michael "House" Weston) and Finn (James "Psych" Roday), who meet in Atlantic City for a repeat of one of their wild weekends involving gambling, booze, coke and sex with any women they can coax into bed.

The difference this time around is that while the flippant, hard-driving, charismatic Max is still eager to party, Finn isn't. Married now, with a kid on the way, he feels it's time he got serious about life and became a responsible adult. Put another way, Finn has moved on, evolved; while Max has refused to grow up.

Having always been the dominant one in the relationship, Max refuses to accept Finn's act of rebellion. In Machiavellian fashion, he tries to exert control over Finn again, first by lashing him with insults ("you're turning into a douche-bag"), then by showering him with money, drugs and, finally, broads (Amanda Detmer and Stephanie E. Frame as part-time hookers).

All the action takes place in adjoining hotel rooms (cleverly designed by Kurt Boetcher) and builds in intensity and drama as the night goes on. The two men cling to their opposing positions and begin to battle each other in full-out, life-and-death fashion, like scorpions in a bottle.

Weston and Roday give superb performances, and Detmer and Frame contribute skillfully as well. All help Extinction rise above its cliche premise to become a powerful and provocative work.