Directing an iconic play is always a risky business, and Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece, “Waiting for Godot,” is not easy fare. It is thin on plot and heavy on existentialism. “I saw a production when I was younger, and I was going to shoot myself,” a friend joked to me recently.

It’s unnerving to think about how few Armenian-language plays have been staged in Southern California since Vahe Berberian’s last outing, “Baron Garbis,” four years ago. The arrival of Berberian’s newest drama, “Gyank” (Life), reminds us exactly what we’ve been missing.

With a shout-out to her fellow Armenians – “my people” – Andrea Martin charmed her way through her cabaret-style show last week at the Samueli Theater of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.

Vahik Pirhamzei’s latest outing, “Honest Liars” (Azniv Sdakhosner), which closed on February 12, was a rollicking romp, thanks to a script heavy on laughs and a cast heavy on talent.

“Ser Yev Dzidzagh” (Love and Laughter) is not a play that Yervant Odian – the Armenian satirist who forever dwells in Hagop Baronian’s shadow – ever wrote; rather, it is an amalgam of three of his works. Still, as staged by the Ardavazt Theatre Company, it proves to be a lively piece of entertainment that offers genuine laughs – and a welcome respite from the lackluster scripts that have hampered the troupe’s last few outings.

Armenia was among nearly a dozen countries represented at this year’s California International Theatre Festival that ran from September 8 to 18 at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Its entries were the U.S. premieres of two abstract performance pieces – “Komitas’ 10 Commandments” and “Colors” – by MIHR Theatre.

Mothers’ Day is some months away, but the Geffen Playhouse has started its celebration early. “In (M)Other Words,” a staged reading of short pieces on all themes maternal, opened on February 23 and is scheduled to play through May 1 in the intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis space.

Productions staged by the Ardavazt Theatre Company frequently feature sprawling casts comprised of both veteran performers and novices. The differences in their acting experience and caliber inevitably keep the productions from maximizing their potential.

Oh, if only I could have a nickel every time “Glendale” or “Mercedes” was used as a punch line in an Armenian comedy. I’d pile up more coins watching “8 Coffees and a Date” than playing a loose slot machine in Vegas.

Hard to believe, but for the first nine months of the past year, Armenian theater in Southern California practically did not exist. It seemed as if all its key producers – aside from the Ardavazt Theater Company, which revived a pair of one-acts – had decided to stage … their own disappearance. Indeed, finding an Armenian play proved about as likely as encountering a unicorn.

Christmas came early this year for aficionados of Armenian-language theater, who were treated to three – count ’em, three – such productions within the span of six weeks. So rare is such bounty that it is worthy of celebration – or lament, depending on whether one focuses on the bounty or its rarity.

Staging the ubiquitous Richard Kalinoski play “Beast on the Moon” is an inherently risky proposition. The script – about two Armenians orphaned during the Genocide who try to build a new life together in America – may be poignant, but it frequently overdoses on sentiment. Directors and actors must actually resist its saccharine tendencies in order to deliver a successful production, as a beautifully restrained and moving Off-Broadway rendition proved a few years ago. However, a current revival by Malabar Hill Films (at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre through October 17) not only exposes the flaws in Kalinoski’s writing, it exacerbates them with problematic performances and grievous directorial missteps.

“If Satamian isn’t in them, they won’t be good.” So pronounced the elderly stranger sitting next to me as we prepared to watch a pair of one-acts – Armenian translations of French farces – staged by the Ardavazt Theater Company in Pasadena. She was referring to Krikor Satamian, the veteran actor who serves as the troupe’s artistic director.

After a triumphant premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City last year, Rajiv Joseph’s mesmerizing play “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” has graduated to the Mark Taper Forum. All the original cast members, including Hrach Titizian, have returned for the new production, which opened on April 25 and plays through May 30.