STAGE REVIEW : ‘Alien Mystery’ a Foreign Substance : The workshop creation is not yet a play; it’s more like a discussion in scenic form. And the authors are generally wooden actors.

SANTA ANA — That “He and She: An Alien Mystery,” the most recent creation of the New Play and Players Workshop at Rancho Santiago College, succeeds at all is remarkable, given the obstacles to be surmounted when a roomful of novices write a play together.

What the workshop has produced is not yet a play, but rather a modestly engaging discussion in scenic form. Still, “He and She” offers some imaginative angles on the battle of the sexes, and gamely attempts an investigation into the question of whether human beings will ever be able to embrace the opposite sex with more than carnal knowledge.

The piece marries a Philip Marlowe-esque tale of sex and intrigue with a sci-fi yarn about aliens who live simultaneously in two personas, one female, one male; normally, only one half of the being is visible at a time.

One alien, named Spann, is in danger of separating permanently into two distinct, single-sex beings. Banished to Earth for the subversive crime of having borne a single-sex child, Spann wreaks havoc by ravishing most of the planet’s population, men and women alike.

One of Spann’s victims, obsessed with the desire to repeat her out-of-this-world sexual encounter, hires a female detective to track down the cosmic Casanova. Spann’s alien mate, Dinny, is also on the trail, and a worldwide chase is on.

The script is top-heavy with ideas and devices but utterly devoid of emotion or character development. Furthermore, the members of the workshop, who perform the piece, are not up to the thespian demands of their own script.

The acting is generally wooden and the pace is slow, despite the economic and clear-eyed direction of Roy Conboy. Conboy, who also directs the workshop, keeps the story line clear and, given the panoply of styles, locales and plot twists, that’s a real accomplishment.

The goal of the workshop is “to provide students with a firsthand experience of the journey of the play all the way from first script idea to stage production.”

But the efforts of these fledgling playwrights might receive a better showcase with more accomplished actors. In any case, as things are, the workshop members may be getting their money’s worth, but the paying audience is not.

“HE AND SHE: AN ALIEN MYSTERY’

Developed, written and performed by the members of the Rancho Santiago College New Plays and Players Workshop: Shellie Mitchell, Peter Touchstone, Simon Melendez, Sylvia Hunter, Marcus Parrish, Felicia Marquez, Alicia Welch, Vashti Cherun, Sonda Toones, Ron McPherson, Kathy Risk, Luis Olivos, and Frank Welcome. Directed by Roy Conboy. Scenic design by Phil Bush. Lighting design by Eric Schulz. Costume and makeup design by Gina Davidson. Continues in the Phillips Hall Little Theatre West on the Rancho Santiago campus, 17th and Bristol streets, Santa Ana, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., through May 11 with a matinee at 3 on May 12. General admission: $10. Information: (714) 564-5661.