A few days ago I publicly pondered the mystery of the People Next Door Theatre Company's "Chronicles of Death," a Rogue show that was hard to get much information about. (All you really find out from the program is that it includes "bad language, suicide and even some nudity.") Well, I trooped out Wednesday night to see it. Mystery solved.

"Chronicles of Death" is an original play. The People Next Door Theatre Company is local. The main character is a blustery guy in a leather trenchcoat and thick black eye makeup named Grim D. Reaper. The format is vignette-style: We get to see a typical day in the life of Death.

Your appreciation of "Chronicles of Death" will rest largely on your tolerance of homespun theatrical events that have a "let's put on a show" feel. I go back and forth at the Rogue whether it's better for small amateur groups such as this one to perform an already established play -- so at least they can work on such major details as acting and presentation -- or whether the charm in the event is that the work is original, no matter how loosely it's held together. The answer to this question is situational, of course. Sometimes an original play is the key to a charming performance. Other times it's absolutely dreadful. Most often, I'd guess, it's fairly ho-hum. That's about where I would place this show.

Death Himself, played by an actor whose name I didn't catch (did I miss the program?), has a solid stage presence, a sardonic delivery and a great, gravelly voice. Heck, I'd cast him as Death. As we follow him through a series of vignettes, we learn that Death takes a laidback approach to his encounters with various humans living out what presumably are their last minutes. The surprising thing is that Death himself doesn't necessarily know how someone is going to expire, which is a premise that adds a promising zing to the play.

The actual stories that unfold don't always live up to that potential. Without stage lighting, putting on a show such as this that requires black-outs is pretty tough. (As a cafe show at Ashtree Studios, the facilities just aren't suited to a stage production.) It's hard to get past the clunky logistics of the performance.

As for the promised nudity, it's more like one shirtless skinny guy. That promise did create a hysterical online moment for me, however. In a pithy story for the Collegian Web site that reader jayparks alerted me to, Sarah Peterson tracked down the details. Her concluding paragraphs:

Mitchell Salt, who portrayed the guy in the robe, was especially pumped for this particular performance. "This is my first time being a part of Rogue," said the Fresno City freshman, "and it's also my first paid gig."

He also thought it was a smart idea to bare his chest for his audience. "Nudity of any kind gets people in the door," he said. "Just throw in some boobs, and here they come."

This guy's going to be a producer someday.

Playing: 7:30 p.m. Friday 3/6, Ashtree Studios, 1035 N. Fulton St. Cost: $4. Rating: R.