GOSH, YOU SMELL PURDY—Catherine (Stacy Treible) is annoyed by Roy's (Chris Stumpf) advances in "Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music," running at Moorpark College. Yee haw! Moorpark College Theater Arts Department slaps up a rip-roarin' love story, Texas style, in Lee Blessing's comedy "Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music," now playing in the Studio Theater in the campus Performing Arts Center through Aug. 5. However, the show, directed by John Loprieno, has no dancing and very little music.

The show is actually two oneact plays performed together, which explains the different "he said, she said" outlooks. Act 1 gives the man's point of view about love, while Act 2 presents a woman's perspective on romance. Somehow the two genders still manage to get together and make it work.

The story takes place at a bar in a small, rural Texas town (is there any other type of town in Texas?). The establishment was formerly a rough-and-tumble biker bar owned by Jim (Jeremy Hanes), a Harleyriding, tough-talking hombre—that is, until he met his woman, Eve (Hannah Markham), and she turned him respectable. Eve cleaned up the joint, banished the Harley, paved the dirt parking lot and renamed the bar "Nice People Dancing . . ." to draw a more highclass clientele.

Jim let Eve have her way, but he's still fussing and fuming over the changes.

Jim loves Eve in spite of her young son, Jay Bob (John Loprieno Jr.), a smart-mouthed brat who constantly provokes Jim. One of the pleasures in the show is watching the wellchoreographed fight scenes between Jim and the kid.

One of Jim's customers, a dull buckaroo named Roy (doublecast with Chris Stumpf and Ryan Lefton) gets the hots for a lovely young woman named Catherine. When he pesters Jim into introducing him to the lass, Jim tries to discourage him. Love only ties a man down and takes away his fun, he says.

In Act 2 we meet Jim's girlfriend, Eve, when she's on the bar's rooftop comforting her niece Catherine (Stacy Treible and Rachel Borbas), who was expelled from a convent for her unfortunate tendency to blurt out profanities at the wrong times. According to Eve, love is wonderful. She left a boring husband to move in with Jim. Remodeling the bar is a symbol of her new life and liberation from a stifling relationship.

Catherine, however, doesn't welcome her own return to secular society. She's having trouble adjusting to a world she never liked in the first place, and she's fighting off Roy's passes. He wants her, but she doesn't want him. Naturally, they're right for each other.

The show's a hoot of a character study as the playwright explores these simple country folk as they struggle to find happiness, love and fulfillment. The story moseys along without a dramatic climax, and the play seems to end too soon after having just scratched the surface of these characters. Then again, real life doesn't wrap up into tidy resolutions. Men and women have different expectations in a relationship—the trick is finding the common ground.

The actors create fine ensemble work. Standouts are Hanes as the frustrated guy who just can't get his bike fixed and Markham as the feisty but loving aunt. Stumpf bumbles around nicely as the dopey guy in love who's quite silly in his attempts to woo Catherine. John Jr., an incoming freshman at Westlake High School, is sufficiently ornery as the kid you just want to take a belt to.

As a cost-saving measure, the college is closed on Fridays and weekends for the summer, which means the play is running only on weeknights. While this scheduling may inconvenience some patrons, the undertwohour running time means one won't be out too late on a work night.

The college also requires cars to display a parking permit. The $1 permits are available from yellow self-serve boxes in the lots.

The show contains mild profanity. For showtimes and tickets, call (805) 378-1485.