The eccentric doctors at Hauptman hospital in Washington, D.C., may be good for a laugh, but they are decidedly bad for good health, and more's the pity for President Waterford Novi, who, after being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, arrives at the hospital in need of treatment.

Certainly, the doctors at the hospital had a lot going on before the wounded president showed up, though few of their activities had anything to do with the practice of medicine. The hospital staff was more interested in the diversions of office romance, hobbies--such as playing the glockenspiel--and entrepreneurial schemes, like one involving a line of Barbie dolls designed for chemotherapy patients. The head of the hospital once was an adherent to a post-modern theory of medicine, in which patients don't exist.

"All of the characters are a bit off, which makes it interesting," says Peter Canavese, director of Goner and a co-founder of Renegade Theatre Experiment. "They're self-involved and misguided a lot of the time, so they're sort of likeable, I guess, in that they're hopelessly naïve. But they make a lot of poor choices. There's a lot of bad judgment on display in the play, and I think that's kind of invigorating to watch. I think we're used to plays where you have the comfort of knowing that the characters will find their way to do the right thing, and in this play, all bets are off."

The character of President Novi, too, is no stranger to really bad judgment. "The president, we learn, when we meet him, is a worst-nightmare kind of president," says Canavese. Citing the character's rampant racism, sexism and general egomania, he says, "There might be some mixed feelings amongst the audience when he gets shot. And there's panic in the hospital about trying to save the president, but there's a sinking feeling as the show goes on, because the doctors are so distracted and wacky."

Goner was presented in Edinburgh's Fringe Festival in 2002, where it received very positive reviews. The festival is also where Canavese encountered Goner. "I was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland a couple years ago," he says, "and I saw the play, and I instantly thought it would be great for Renegade Theatre Experiment, because it was very different and fast-paced and funny and it had a good edge to it, which is something that is part of our mission--to bring unusual and different, edgy works to Bay Area theater."

With the current political climate, staging a comedy that includes a presidential assassination attempt might seem like artistic suicide, but Goner, as one can discern from the various characters' off-the-wall behavior and bizarre bête noires, doesn't necessarily bear much resemblance to reality as we know it.

"I think we're somewhat lucky in that we're coming on the heels of City Lights doing Assassins. And we just worked with them," says Canavese, noting the current production by a fellow San Jose company of a Stephen Sondheim musical about the psychology of presidential assassins and would-be assassins.

Additionally, Canavese says that the central storyline isn't grist for the political mill so much as just a vehicle for an absurd comedy. "What I've also been saying is that it isn't really a very political play. It does have satirical elements and one of them is this bad president, but really, funny is nonpartisan," says Canavese. "It's just a silly comedy and it's about people. It's really about 'we're all going to die,' which sounds like a ridiculous subject for a comedy, but it really is about that, it's about mortality and how it's a mistake to take anything too seriously because we're all going to the same place."

Renegade Theatre Experiment presents Goner June 11­26 (previews June 10) at Benson Theatre, Bellarmine College Preparatory, 895 Emory Ave., San Jose. Tickets are $10­$18. For more information, call 408.351.4440 or visit http://www.renegadetheatre.com/.