Epitaph May 27-June 12 Seattle Public Theater
	Seattleplays.com review By Tom Scanlon
Ethan Sandler (no relation to Adam, except in a do-anything-for-comedy approach) and Adrian Wenner may have stumbled onto something, here: a hybrid of improv and sketch comedy, with the comic energy of the former and brainy absurdity of the latter. These two young, L.A.-based – Sandler is orginally from Mercer Island, Wenner from Chicago – actor-writers perform a few dozen characters each (or, at least, so it seems) in Epitaph, a speedy, sketchy comedy that hits more than it misses. The subject is a deceased young woman who is the object of obsession of two men, not really friends, not really strangers.     Sandler and Wenner poke fun at medicine, commercials, pop music, the work place and whatever else crosses their paths. Some of it, particularly the use of old rock songs, strains, but for the most part the show charges forward at full comic speed; yet it also has a heart, thanks to a depth in the acting, particularly on Sandler’s part. Wenner is by far the funnier of the two, a slacker version of Gene Wilder, perhaps; Sandler keeps the whole thing grounded, so that Epitaph truly is a play – even if there are no costume changes, no props and a bare minimum 2-chair set – as opposed to a sketch. Noted L.A. director Betsy Thomas surely is to be thanked for some of the fine-tuning and humanistic moments. For the most part, though, this is a Pythonesque romp, with wacked-out characters explored devilishly.     Imagination is a powerful thing, and these two let their minds run wild, gloriously.