ON THE STAGE PREDICTABLE WEATHER Anne Kelly-Saxenmeyer Special to the Mirror If I had not first perused playwright Bernardo Solano's extensive credits and formidable list of honors and awards, I would've thought "Wildlife" to be a solid first attempt, enterprising and sincere if not ready for production. The play, now being presented at the Powerhouse Theatre by the Echo Theater Company, is billed as a tragicomic tale of urban survival, the story of seven Angelenos whose lives are invaded by the grisly murder of a young girl. Winona and Elbert are a couple of hillbillies from Southern California1s backwoods. Kevin is a young Neo-nazi criminal. Carmen is an African-American weather forecaster with cancer. Joshua is a middle-aged CPA who is disappointed in his family. Wendy is a pretty young junkie out of suburbia, and Erik is the K-9 cop who saves Wendy from addiction and street life. Rather than having a direct impact on all seven characters, the anonymous dismembered girl provides a thematic link, which Solano spells out explicitly through the voice of Carmen: We cannot predict "the weather," shield ourselves or our loved ones from the fierceness of the elements. The universe is random and uncompassionate. Fine. But for a play about urban chaos, "Wildlife" is awfully heavy-handed and predictable. We know most of these characters before they open their mouths. Take, for instance, the pretty junkie, who explains at length how she over-ate as a child, trying to fill the void with food until she turned to "other things." And how about backwoods Elmer, a closeted sexual deviant who spews scripture while beating his wife -- have I seen this somewhere before? When Solano does attempt to break out of these generic categories, he does so suddenly and with zero plausibility. An hour into the play, Kevin, who has been vomiting a blue streak of hate and violence since his first appearance, inexplicably falls in love with Carmen, who happens to have gone to the same high school as he. Kevin is delivering Carmen's pizza when they meet, but somehow he feels no bitterness toward this successful and intelligent black woman. Until Carmen kicks him out, he becomes a vulnerable and supportive lover, who bakes and is not afraid to cry. Among the cast members there are some valiant efforts made. Tim Fox and Nancy Bell (Elbert and Winona) are believable as a dysfunctional couple. Daisy McCrackin (Wendy) almost makes the cliched reforming junkie bearable. Monique Edwards (Carmen) gives a strong performance and provides some much needed irony. And despite the incongruities of his character, Jf Pryor (Kevin) has some nice moments late in the play. Director Chris Fields stages the play creatively and makes some clever use of voice-over. However, the play's numerous and involved scene changes are allowed too much emphasis, becoming yet another hindrance to this already disjointed piece. Echo Theater Company at the Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 Second St., Santa Monica; performances Fri. & Sat. at 8pm, Sun. at 3pm & 7pm; through July 16th. (310) 396-3680.