There’s some fine work being done on the Road Theatre stage, but unless you’re an art connoisseur, you’re likely to find the company’s latest World Premiere, Tom Jacobson’s Hell Mouth, too intellectual and esoteric to rank among the prolific playwright’s best.

It doesn’t help that Jacobson’s latest opens rather offputtingly with gay 30something art curator Tim’s (Danny Lee Gomez) mother Lois (Taylor Gilbert) wiping her cancer-battling husband Russell’s (Tony Abatemarco) rectum, nor does it get any less uncomfortable to watch when a discussion ensues of Russell’s latest setback, a bowel impaction that his nurse has had to remove manually, nor do things improve when Tim himself is required to do the same on a brief trip back home to Oklahoma.

Segue to Tim’s L.A. life where museum director Samara (Gilbert) informs the handsome young curator that the recent loss of an important private collection has left the museum in dire need of a major acquisition, i.e., “something astonishing to put us on the map.”

The “something” in question turns out to be a Caravaggio Judas, but not, as Tim initially assumes, the one belonging to the Irish Jesuits.

No, this Caravaggio depicts Judas precisely at the moment of his hanging, and features “an erotic component” to boot.

And all Tim has to do is persuade “bitter old queen” Raymond Spencer (Abatemarco), famed for compiling “The List,” a catty annual enumeration of high society’s worst dressed mavens, to part with this priceless Caravaggio, and if he has to use his masculine charms to the museum’s advantage, so what? Why not just go for it?

Not knowing much about Renaissance art, or art in general for that matter (though I had at least heard of Caravaggio and could conjure up vague images of his homoerotic religious paintings), I found it hard to become invested in Tim’s assignment.

It also didn’t help that “Mr. Spencer” (inspired perhaps by the real-life Mr. Blackwell of “The Ten Worst Dressed Women List” fame) comes across as not much more than a nasty, mean-spirited a gay stereotype.

Zigzagging back and forth between Los Angeles and Oklahoma, Hell Mouth only began to engage me post-intermission when Tim joins Spencer however briefly in Italy before a return to Oklahoma where life complications await as do some rather bizarre hallucinations.

It’s not that playwright Jacobson’s heart isn’t in the right place, and if Hell Mouth isn’t at least in part autobiographical, it certainly feels that way.

Still, the play’s lofty concept flew largely over my head, leaving me mostly unengaged despite solid work from Gomez  and colorful star turns by Gilbert and Abatemarco in two very different roles (and accents) each, all of the above under the as always able direction of Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.

Mark Mendelson’s attractive abstract set provides a canvas for Nicholas Santiago’s gorgeous Caravaggio projections and some inviting Italian scenery, with additional design props shared by Derrick McDaniel (lighting), Jenna Bergstrasser (costumes), Matt Richter (sound) and Ava Guggenheim (properties).

Hell Mouth is produced by Danna Hyams and Gilbert. Dirk Etchison, Troy Guthrie, and Erika Nadir are understudies. Maurie Gonzalez is production stage manager. David Elzer is publicist.

When Tom Jacobson is at his best (as in recent triumphs like Tasty Little Rabbit and Crevasse), his plays become must-sees.

Not so much Hell Mouth, made possible by the generosity of moneyed donors listed on the program’s title page, but a hard sell for the theatergoers with more down-to-earth tastes than theirs.

The Road Theatre, NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Through May 24. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 2:00.
www.RoadTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
April 17, 2026
Photos: Lizzy Kimball, Robert Sturdevant

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Road Theatre, Tom Jacobson