As such, it courageously chooses provocative projects, then presents them in different locations throughout Long Beach.

    Last spring, this energetic troupe produced a series of new plays by aspiring playwrights aboard the Queen Mary.

    This was followed by “In Arabia We’ll All Be Kings,” a gut-wrenching drama performed in a large deserted warehouse in Bixby Knolls. Just last weekend, Alive Theatre’s latest efforts opened in the Immanuel Center for Conscious Living in east Long Beach.

    “Frozen,” on stage in the church basement, is an unflinching drama about a brain-damaged psychopath, the grieving mother of one of his victims, and an American psychiatrist who has been studying the criminal mind for the past 10 years.

    Written in 1998 by British playwright Byrony Lavery, this gripping plot is presented in a series of monologues by the play’s three characters.

    Performed on a dark stage with minimal scenery, each monologue explores the inner thoughts of the person standing in the spotlight. Needless to say, all three parts are extremely demanding.

    Ricci Dedola turns in an outstanding portrayal of Nancy, the grieving mother. When we first meet her, her 10-year-old daughter Rona has just gone missing. With a wry sense of humor, Nancy tells us about each member of her family and their idiosyncrasies.

    Though the first few scenes were rushed on opening night (due to jitters, no doubt), Dedola soon gains control to narrate the facts of her life.

    It’s Nancy’s story, and for the next 20 years she toughs it out. Frozen in the belief that Rona is still alive, she holds tenaciously to the hope that her daughter will return … until she learns the horrible truth. Never melodramatic or over-the-top, Dedola nails her character and is totally convincing.

    Paul Knox’s realistic portrayal of the brain-damaged pedophile is equally remarkable. Brutally beaten in childhood by his sadistic father, Ralph is frozen into the brutal person he has become.

    Not until he’s locked up, convicted and examined by Agnetha (the young psychiatrist who flew in from the States to study him), do we learn anything about Ralph.

    After years of intensive research, Agnetha believes there are distinct differences between “crimes of evil” and “crimes of illness,” and she feels the latter is forgivable.

    To humanize the killer without sentimentality is difficult to project. Though quite commendable, Becky Phelps’s portrayal of Agnetha (who has secrets of her own that aren’t revealed until the end of the play), is less resolved than those of Nancy and Ralph.

    When properly presented, the 31 monologues (or scenes) in “Frozen” gradually connect and weave together. By the end of the play, a powerful tapestry emerges — one that illustrates the cause-and-effects of the event the characters share.

    Unfortunately, this didn’t happen on opening night because a claque of applause was set off in the audience after each monologue. These non-stop interruptions separated the scenes from each other, blocked their association, defused the play’s energy, and sabotaged the subtext.

    Before further performances, it would be helpful if director Jasper Oliver would ask the audience — very politely — not to applaud until the end of each act. That would give his excellent cast the opportunity to achieve its goal and shine.

    They worked hard on this insightful play and they deserve to be seen at their best.

    “Frozen” continues at the Immanuel Center, 3215 E. Third St., at 8 pm on weekends through Nov. 21.