Set in the 1930s, the play Epic Proportions by Larry Coen and David Crane is a movie within a play. Brothers Benny and Phil are two out of 4,000 extras in an epic, biblical movie being filmed. The love triangle occurs when both brothers fall for the movie's assistant director.

Part way through filming, the movie's director throws a fit and quits.

"So, if they still want to make the movie, they have to do it themselves," De Les Dernier explains. "Phil takes over as director, and casts his brother Benny as the star and Louise as the lead female."

De Les Dernier says the "movie" has all the elements of a hilarious comedy, and even borrows from several classic, Hollywood flicks--one of the love scenes pokes fun at Spartacus, and a death scene mimics the stabbing of Julius Caesar.

What also makes Epic Proportions so funny, cast members say, is how, true to the filming of an actual movie, many multiple "takes" are acted out. Actress Cindy Powell, who plays an Egyptian dancer and a gladiator, says it's all she can do to keep from laughing as Michael Sosa, who plays Octavium, gets stabbed an unbelievable 36 times and has to die four times. This is because they are forced to "film the scene" again and again, as something goes wrong with each take.

Sosa says this is the first show in which he hasn't played a leading role, but for this show it makes it rather fun.

"It's a different experience, because all the characters have their own feel to them; everyone has their own personality that jumps out. I really enjoy my characters," he says. Sosa adds that never before has he been in a play that requires such "active" acting--it's been a welcome challenge learning how to fall down the stairs, get stabbed and die.

De Les Dernier says elements such as gladiator fights, swordplay and more have definitely made Epic Proportions fun for all.

"They get to learn different things, like stage combat, and also they learn not only how to do it in a play but how to do it in a movie," he says. He adds that some of this can be quite challenging, especially when performing on a stage as small and intimate as the West Valley College Chamber Theatre. "It takes some very careful, tricky stage placement. There's very little room, and all the other actors are on stage when the fights break out, so we have to make it look good without letting anybody get hit."

Another challenge in the show was figuring out how to give 4,000 extras life.

"This show has a unique element, because all 4,000 extras are actually heard," he says. Therefore, one night, he told the entire cast and crew to invite many friends and family members to the theater--then he put them all on stage, told them what to say, and recorded their voices. Those recordings will be played back during the show so the audience really feels as though there are 4,000 people in the room.

"That was a fun evening," De Les Dernier says. "It was a challenging element of the show that I'd never had to do before."

Many of the actors credit De Les Dernier, who also runs the Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival and teaches film history classes during the day at West Valley, with broadening their performance skills and making them feel comfortable doing things they'd never done before. Camila Frausto, who plays love interest Louise, says this is the first large role she has ever played, but De Les Dernier helped rid her of any fears.

"I would have thought I'd feel pressure or anxiety, but ... Bruce just knows how to make it all feel natural, nothing feels too far out of reach for me," she says. "I feel the role is perfect for my age and for who I am."

In turn, De Les Dernier says the cast has certainly impressed him--they had all their lines memorized two weeks before the deadline he set.

"The cast has just been wonderful," he says.

Other theaters may have shied away from putting on a lesser-known, off-the-wall play such as Epic Proportions--a common fear is that no one will want to spend money to attend a show they've never heard of. However, Virginia Drake, chairwoman of the Theatre Arts Department, says Epic Proportions is the perfect example of the kinds of shows her department likes to do.

"I really feel that community theaters are largely focused on entertainment and large audiences. If we were a community theater, our goal might be to get as big an audience as we could get. But as an educational institution, not only do we want to entertain and attract large groups of people, we want to educate our students and open their vistas to other playwrights and performance styles," she says. "So, you'll see us kind of bouncing around. We watch ourselves. If we feel we're getting too mainstream, we'll say, 'OK, it's time to broaden our students' horizons more.' "

Drake says the department's next project will be A Christmas Carol--and although that show is fairly mainstream, it is going for a more challenging, Broadway musical version.

But then, it's not as if the students are complaining. With gladiator battles, stabbing scenes and the Ten Plagues behind them, how scary could the Ghost of Christmas Past be?

"Epic Proportions" is presented at West Valley College, 14000 Fruitvale Ave. in Saratoga, in the Chamber Theatre, room MU-12. Showtimes are Oct. 21 and 22 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.; Oct. 27-29 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. General admission is $10, students with ID or seniors 65 and over are $8. Call 408.741.2058 for more information.