Jason Kanda, Katherine Aumer and Tyler Tanabe are the brightest spark plugs in a talented cast as Kumu Kahua serves up an evening of bizarre, unpredictable theater with Hawaii playwright Eric Yokomori's “;House Lights & Prolonged Sunlight.”; The production couples a one-act play, “;House Lights,”; with six short sketches presented collectively as “;Prolonged Sunlight.”; Both halves are challenging, thought-provoking and not for the genteel or faint of heart.

Kanda is Saul Peacock, the “;friend from high school”; who visits Edith Roget (Aumer) and her family in “;House Lights.”; Peacock explains that he is an actor—well, he's worked as an extra in more than 100 films or television programs. He talks at length about the challenge of playing characters who are not supposed to be noticed (”;The extra is the greatest actor,”; he says).

Peacock persuades the whole family that they too can be actors—Edith; her husband (Cheyne Gallarde); their “;mildly retarded”; daughter, Victoria (Ginger M. Gohier); their belligerent, drug-dealing son, Stephen (Tanabe); and the deaf boy-next-door (Ryan Sutherlan) who was inches away from “;rescuing”; Victoria from her virginity when Mr. Peacock walked in on them.

The line between “;acting”; and real life gradually fades. Then it vanishes.

Kanda excels as always at playing a quirky, surrealistic character. Tanabe plays against type as a brutish bully. Gohier and Sutherlan have a great scene with the almost-seduction; she and Gallarde are chilling later on as the father and daughter desperately try to control reality while remaining in character. Aumer caps a beautifully played comic performance by teaming with Kanda for the darkest moment in the story.

“;Prolonged Sunlight”; is a mixed bag.

» Kanda and Gallarde are joined by Salli K. Morita in a sketch about a quirky drug dealer (Kanda) and two customers.

» Sutherlan and Danielle Vivarttas-Ahrnsbrak are instantly engaging in a tale about a heartbroken young teen (Sutherlan) who finds solace in possession of a “;magic rock,”; until the girl who broke his heart tells him she has a “;magic rock,”; too.

» K.C. Odell is a young man tasked with killing his grandfather (John Wythe White) because the old man can no longer “;pull his weight”; on the family farm. (Didn't they tell us things would turn out like this if the Obama health bill were passed?)

» Troy M. Apostol has a excellent platform playing a publisher of children's books who is pestered by a porn writer (Jason K. Ellinwood). Apostol is a master at playing bizarre characters, and the piece was the only one to get a separate round of applause on opening night last Thursday.

» Gohier and Stephanie Kuroda play a pair of annoyingly superficial “;friends”; who lie to everyone, including each other.

» Aumer, Kanda and Tanabe are joined by Michelle Umipeg in a crude but comical sketch about art, competition and the power of imagination.

The drug dealer, magic rock, book publisher and drawing lesson pieces earn their place in the “;sunlight,”; but there is nothing funny about an old man begging for his life, and nothing of interest in the vapid talk between two toxic women.