What’s it supposed to be?

It’s a sendup of the art world—at least the pretentious part of it—in Tina Howe’s Museum at the Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento. A large-cast play (fortunately, except for the curtain call, they’re not all onstage at once) turns the Wilkerson Theatre into a first-rate museum, where three contemporary artists are having their works displayed. We see a number of interesting “types”: French tourists; snobbish art groupies; sketching wannabe-artists and photographers; a trio of giggling everywomen who find contemporary art absurd; and a security guard who’s very concerned about losing pieces of the art, since the show is closing. The work is solid, but not stellar, with a few exceptions. Melissa Melancon steals the show in a juicy role as Tink, a woman who went out gathering dead things in the forest with the sculptor and with some great—if neurotic—gossip in a powerful monologue.

Museum, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; $13-$15. The Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento at the Wilkerson Theatre, 1723 25th Street; (916) 501-6104; www.actinsac.com. Through September 5.