A museum art conservator's fiancé gives her a mummy in need of restoration as an engagement gift. Having no place at work to do the conservation work, she takes the mummy home to her studio apartment.

Unlikely as that scenario sounds, it's based on truth, says playwright Tom Jacobson, author of Conserving Melissa, which is making its world première with this Renegade production.

"There was an art conservator who worked for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and a lot of this story happened to her," Jacobson says.

"She was asked to conserve a mummy, but they wouldn't let her do it in the lab because it wasn't in good shape. She had to do it in her studio apartment, so she had this dead woman with her all the time in her room.

"It was freaking her out, so her mother suggested it was because it was anonymous, so she named it Melissa."

The woman "became very obsessed with the mummy," Jacobson says, adding that while many of the things in the play are true, some are not.

The Los Angeles­based author of more than 50 plays, Jacobson says he has shown the script to the woman who inspired it and "she gave her blessing."

Script to performance

Sean Murphy, artistic director for the theater group and a Willow Glen resident, says he was initially attracted by "the creepiness" of the play's plot.

He liked the woman's obsession with the mummy, "the possibility there's a curse that's mummy driven" and the humorous aspects that emerge.

"I love the relationships among the people. They're really real and dealing with life choices of where they want to go, what do they value and what do they love," Sean says.

Megan Murphy, the play's director and Sean's sister, says, "One of the things I love is it is a story about passion and finding something you're passionate about. Then it crosses over the line and becomes unhealthy. It's frightening to those involved."

Yet, for all the talk about obsession, possible curses and erotic components, everyone concerned calls it a romantic comedy.

"Tom has a wonderful comic sense," Megan says. "In very tense moments, there's still a sense of the absurdity of the moment. I sit in rehearsal and laugh so loud that the actors are distracted.

"There are some absolutely hilarious moments in the story. It's not the same joke over and over. He's got sight gags, witty lines and delayed effects."

Directing her third production for Renegade, this is Megan's first time directing a mummy.

"We have an inanimate character and that's the mummy. Everyone was very clear that this mummy needed to be effective. The audience needs to see that and take it in as a viable character, as a member of the cast."

To that end, Megan has been working with the Rosicrucian Museum to ensure the mummy and her cartonage, or case, look authentic and to research the Ptolemaic period the mummy is from.

"In preparation, I met with a curator at the Egyptian Museum," Megan says. "I needed to know more about the period than the cast to answer the questions they were going to ask me."

The Ptolemaic period was 305 to 30 B.C., and in her research Megan found a parallel between Melissa and a woman of high status who was exiled for threatening the pharaoh.

While the concept of a mummy curse or someone being mummified alive is popular in fiction, there has never been any proof of either existing, which is one reason Megan says the play takes comedic liberties.

The fact that Conserving Melissa is premiering in San Jose is very much in keeping with Renegade Theatre Experiment's purpose.

Theatre's roots

The group started in May 2001.

Sean Murphy says he and his six co-founders started talking about how they had graduated from Santa Clara University's theater arts program, but weren't using their degrees. They had all taken jobs in education, banking, high tech and other areas.

"We started a workshop group so we could work on auditions for other companies," Sean says.

"Around June, somebody had the idea, 'Why don't we do our own show?' It was very, very Mickey Rooneyish. We had no clue what it took to do a show, but we dove in and we did it.

"In August 2001, we did three nights of one-act comedies in a bar. Then we said, 'Let's do this for real.' "

In March 2002, Renegade Theatre Experiment became a nonprofit.

Sean says he coined the name "because we all agreed we want to do theater that is not necessarily traditional or that everyone else is doing. We want to challenge the norms and do work that is edgy and maybe not as commercial. Other companies are doing Neil Simon and Annie and filling that spot."

Peter Canavese, a co-founder and on the faculty at Bellarmine College Preparatory, arranged for the group to meet and rehearse on campus. Eventually, they made a formal agreement with the school to rent the campus theater for two productions each summer, when school was not in session.

In addition to the two plays at Bellarmine, Renegade also tries to stage a third production elsewhere each spring. In April of this year, the company performed Macbeth in partnership with City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose.

Sean says the company is talking to MACLA about utilizing its performing space for a production in spring 2005.

Permanent home

"We have a five-year plan," Sean says. "By March 2009 we'll be in a permanent space and paying our artists and technicians."

To that end, Sean and others have been looking at possible sites in Willow Glen, where they would like to find a permanent location.

"From a strategic standpoint, we're looking at where we want to be. We're now in the Rose Garden district and we really like it. We've thought about downtown, as there is an artistic community growing down there.

"Willow Glen is a great community and doesn't have its own theater company."

Sean says Renegade identified two possible sites on Lincoln Avenue, but both spaces were taken before they could act.

He has met with Councilman Ken Yeager and several Willow Glen civic leaders, including Margaret Hardy and Michael Mulcahy.

Sean says they are now "working on funds to sustain us and get us a location."

"Conserving Melissa" runs Aug. 5­8, 12­14. All performances are at 8 p.m., except Sunday matinees, which are at 2 p.m. Performances are in the Benson Theatre, corner of Elm Street and Emory Avenue, at Bellarmine College Preparatory, 895 Emory Ave. General admission tickets are $15 on Thursdays and Sundays and $18 on Fridays and Saturdays. Students, teachers, seniors and Theatre Bay Area members qualify for discount tickets of $10 or $12 with valid ID. For additional information, visit www.renegadetheatre.com or call 408.351.4440.