A lanky hunk of a cowboy (Paul Morgan Stetler) leans on a lamppost and tells us that “things in nature always hide,” going on to describe creatures that change color to escape predators and noting “To stand out in the world is to invite danger.”

Is this a new cowboy poet? No, it’s Del (Paul Morgan Stetler), in tiny Breakneck, Wyo., who has caught sight of the new girl in town, Korean American biology teacher Veronica (Zandi De Jesus) and wants to impress her.

Del is not alone in his attraction to Veronica. The only Asians in town – Korean American English teacher Travis (Volt Francisco) is also smitten, as is the only Breakneck native in the group, Chester (Eric “Pogi” Sumangil), of strange behavior and indeterminate Asian ancestry.

But Travis backs off when Veronica, escapee of a messy emotional life in New York, announces that she only dates Caucasians. Travis agrees to make the suit in writing for his friend, the sweet but nearly illiterate Del.

Mo‘olelo Performing Arts Company offers Michael Golamco’s Cowboy Versus Samurai, a reworking of the Cyrano de Bergerac story, through Dec. 16 at the 10th Avenue Theatre. Kimber Lee directs.

Cowboy Versus Samurai is something of an anomaly in Asian-American theater, which tends toward the serious and away from comedy. But Golamco saw possibilities here in substituting race issues for Cyrano’s well-known big nose.

By and large, it works extremely well. Three of the characters are believable, the script is funny and makes its points well without being labored. My lone reservation is the character of Chester, with the extreme temperament of a minority activist, founder of the BAA (Breakneck Asian Association, membership two), who considers Bruce Lee god and whose harebrained plans Travis tries to thwart. The explanation given (adoption by the town’s Caucasian residents, who failed to ask his background) doesn’t seem adequate to explain his behavior.

Lee has assembled a fine cast. Francisco convinces as the silent admirer Travis, De Jesus shines as the object of everyone’s affection. Sumangil does yeoman work with Chester and gets plenty of laughs; I just wish Golamco could tone the character down a bit to make him more believable. But it’s Stetler who won me over as the slightly dim but utterly endearing Del.

Cowboy versus Samurai plays through Dec. 16 at 10th Avenue Theatre. Shows Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; matinee Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets call 619-342-7395 or visit www.moolelo.net.

Remember those god-awful high school cliques, designed to exclude rather than include?

Veronica Martin (Nicole Monet), by her own reckoning the “third-most-popular sophomore” at Longwood High School, dates the star of the basketball team and spends extraordinary amounts of time on her cell phone with cheerleader friends Jen and Jen, painting fingernails and communicating with both parents by phone (her absent dad lives in California; mom seems to live at work).

But Victoria isn’t your stereotypical empty-headed social butterfly. She isn’t half bad at math and even knows the value of pi to the 52nd digit. Still, she is horrified to find herself drafted as a replacement on the school’s math team.

But not half as aghast as the old boys’ network members of that team (a typical response: “There’s gonna be a girl in the van?”).

Moxie Theatre presents Kathryn Walat’s Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen through Dec. 16 at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Jennifer Eve Thorn directs.

Victoria finds “Math Central” inhabited by senior Peter (Tim Parker), who already has early admission to MIT and just wants to end his high school career with the state math championship; gawky freshman Jimmy (Luke Marinkovich), whose clumsy but growing attraction to the math queen provides some of the play’s most endearing moments; and “brain twins” Max (Jesse Allen Moore) and Franklin (Joseph Dionisio), best buddies since third grade.

Can Victoria join the geeky math team without losing status or – worse – membership in what high school kids of my day called the “sosh” group? More important, who does she really want to be?

Playwright Kathryn Walat put in some time coaching kids for the SAT, and it shows in her dialogue and awareness of both the differing maturity levels of high schoolers and of their need to fit in somewhere. A gay subplot involving Max’s emerging homosexuality is also nicely handled.

Director Thorn is blessed with a perfect cast. Monet is terrific and downright inspiring as she tries to live in both worlds. Moore and Dionisio are great foils for each other and Parker, the “sorta cute, sorta normal” one, adds the sophistication and aura of the almost-college man to the geek squad.

Moxie Theatre’s production of Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen plays through Dec. 16 at San Diego Repertory’s Space Theatre. Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets call 619-544-1000 or visit www.moxietheatre.com.

Jewish girls have a Bat Mitzvah, Hispanic girls a Quinceañera, or Sweet 15 party to announce their passage into young womanhood.

Sweet 15 (Quinceañera) is a raucous parody of the traditional Quince celebration, as seen through the off-kilter lens of playwright and local product Rick Najera. It plays through Dec. 16 at San Diego Repertory Theatre, directed by the REP’s artistic director Sam Woodhouse.

Set in National City, the plot has absent dad Eduardo Valderama (Najera), who deserted the family right before daughter Sonora’s big day, returning in hopes of giving her the Quince party she never had. Never mind that Sonora (Nina Brissey) is now 25, hopes to go to Stanford Law School, and is utterly unimpressed with dad’s explanation that a decade ago he was being pursued by some malos hombres and had to flee to Mexico.

Najera is always great with outrageous and outsized characters, and Sweet 15 is no exception. The most fun is Sonora’s bigger (and louder) than life grandmother Chata (Alma Martinez, practical of outlook and opinionated about everything. To Sonora, who has described the quinceañera as “basically a pre-wedding auction block,” she offers this advice: “A girl may be married many times, but she only gets one quinceañera.”

Of course, Sonora gives in, the party goes on and things don’t go quite as planned – what with squiffy party planner Jorge (Carlo D’Amore) gambling away the $35,000 Eddy paid him and being forced to, shall we say, scrimp, leading to ghastly costumes, abominable entertainment and general embarrassment all around.

But I’ll be darned if it isn’t fun to watch.

Excellent comic acting all around, especially from Jose Yenque, D’Amore and Fernando Vega, all in multiple roles, and Yvonne DeLaRosa as Sonora’s beleaguered mom Eva add to the merriment. Kudos also to Ron Ranson for his terrific set and Paloma H. Young for her strange and wonderful costume designs.

Sweet 15 is billed as “an interactive comedy,” so be prepared for five audience couples to be drafted to dance as Sonora’s “court.”

Sweet 15 (Quinceañera) plays through Dec. 16 at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Shows Wednesday and Sunday at 7 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinees Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets call 619- 544-1000 or visit www.sandiegorep.com.