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Spoon River Anthology was written in 1950 by Edgar Lee Masters. It began as a series published in the magazine, Reedy's Mirror, but it has long since been compiled as a single text and is now considered an American literary classic. It's reasonable to ponder why this macabre treatise--comprised of 212 characters speaking from their graves in more than 240 monologues about life along the actual Spoon River (in Illinois)--wasn't dramatized until 1962. After all, Spoon River seems ready-made for an actor's interpretation, and is regularly used as a tool in acting classes across the nation.

Thankfully, nearly half a century after Masters' initial iteration of River, the Hollywood-based Theatre West did create a stage version of the unique anthology. So successful was this production that it eventually found its footing on Broadway. Lee Meriwether, reigning Miss America in 1955, was an understudy in that staging. Now, Ms. Meriwether and coauthor/director John Hesselman have adapted Masters' piece once again. Their latest version--now fittingly onstage at Theatre West--puts focus on the feminine decedents of Spoon River.

Portraying over two-dozen roles, Ms. Meriwether proves to be a nimble performer and an adequate vocalist. (Although "Spoon River" isn't a musical, the staging offers an original score by Kenneth Atkins, and an opening number, The Women from the Hill, sung by Ms. Meriwether that sets an appropriate tone for the show.) If it's a heyday for an actor to express a variety of characterizations in a single production, Ms. Meriwether is surely having such a day. Her incarnations move gracefully from one to another. As the first poem in Masters' words suggests, there are a wide-range of individuals here willing to share their personal epitaphs --"The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one?"--and Ms. Meriwether does justice to each of them with a specificity that is admirable. What's more, interpreting 26 personas in an hour's time is a stunning achievement in itself.

Still, it's a lot to absorb in 60 minutes. And while Ms. Meriwether--acting on a sparse stage with 11 chairs, several frail tree-like structures, and autumnally hued bouquets of flowers (scenic design un-credited) -- clearly knows who's who and what's what in the various scenarios on display here, it's easy for us in the audience to become buried beneath the blur of exposition and characterizations coming at us, as if on a speeding conveyor line.

It's not that the Women of Spoon River doesn't have something worthwhile to say; it does, and it's enacted with commitment and fluidity by Ms. Meriwether. It's that too many of the ladies presented say too much while revealing too little or revealing it in an opaque fashion that's often difficult to comprehend. That's why this latest embodiment of the soulful Spoon River seems at this point in production more of an acting exercise for Ms. Meriwether than an audience-ready play.

"Women of Spoon River: Their Voices from the Hill" continues at Theatre west--3333West Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood--through February 20. Show times are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Matinees are Sundays at 2 p.m. For reservations, dial (323) 851 - 7977. For online ticketing, visit www.theatrewest.org.