The Lonesome West is leaving the American West April 15, when the 1999 Martin McDonagh play exits California's South Coast Repertory Theatre. The dark comedy began its run on the Second Stage March 13 with an opening March 16. The Rep's artistic director, Martin Benson, directs.

The Lonesome West is a Cain-and-Abel tale pitting petty, pathetic Valene and the psychotic Coleman against each other, despite the interventions of a well-meaning but hapless priest, and a pure-hearted but dirty-minded local girl. The play opens with the boys after the death of their father, killed by a shot gun blast that may - or may not - have accidentally come from Coleman's gun. West is the third in McDonagh's Leenane trilogy, which includes A Skull in Connemara and The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

In New York, The Lonesome West opened April 27, 1999, to mixed to positive reviews. It fared poorly at the box office and closed June 13, after 9 previews and 55 regular performances. It has since enjoyed some life in the regions, alongside Beauty Queen and Skull in Connemara.

Rod McLachlan (Roundabout's Cyrano de Bergerac, The Real Inspector Hound) and Paul O'Brien (Twelfth Night with Helen Hunt) star as Valene and Coleman. Rounding out the cast are J. Todd Adams as Father Welsh and Amy Chaffee as Girleen.

Tickets are $18-$47. South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For reservations, call (714) 708-5555. South Coast Repertory is on the web at http://www.scr.org. — By Christine Ehren