Early in the first scene of Scot Izuka's "Mainland Education," Jerome — a Japanese-American student from Hawai'i — surveys his new dormitory room at the University of Kansas. He puts up a scenic poster, then strums perfunctorily on an 'ukulele.

"Guess I should have learned to play this before I brought it to school."

The line earns a laugh, but it turns out to be the most accurate self-assessment that Jerome makes during the rest of his school year. And the 'ukulele isn't the only excess baggage that he has brought with him. The heaviest is his confusion over racial inferiority.

But since "Mainland Education" is a comedy, playwright Izuka and director James Nakamoto give the central theme a light touch in its Kumu Kahua premiere. Jerome (Tyler Tanabe) becomes romantically involved with two young women and — in a muddled and groping way — projects out his own insecurity and reads it back incorrectly.

With Cathy (Kathy Hunter) — a native Kansan almost purely devoid of personal prejudice — he insists that her parents won't like him and that she couldn't ever assume his unpronounceable last name. With Rei (Julia Nakamoto) — a Japanese national — he presumes to be accepted solely because of his Asian blood.

Although he dates both women simultaneously — first hiding the relationships, then openly discussing them — Jerome demonstrates that he's as badly prepared for a loving commitment as he is to strum out a verse of "Tiny Bubbles."

While there is a great deal of recognizable charm in the situation, the play is predictable and the flawed central character lacks the passion to make either love interest convincing. Jerome exits the play with a somewhat sharper insight, but still weighted down by confusion — now somewhat shifted from racial inferiority to romantic ambivalence.

The final scene plays out with typical romantic comedy see-sawing at an airline departure gate. Will he stay? Will she go? But Jerome's fervent "I love you" rings hollow. Clearly he has earned an academic degree, but learned little about life.

Performances are a mix of stock cliches and genuine feeling.

Tanabe's Jerome has a scruffy and pouty tone that might appeal to rescuing females, but his double dealing ultimately registers as exploitive and self-serving. Hunter's Cathy starts as a fortune hunter, but finishes as genuine risk taker. Nakamoto's Rei leaks anger and despair through cracks in her rigidly duty-bound exterior.

Easily the most delightful character in the play is Yan (Shiro Kawai) — a doctoral candidate from Taiwan with a playful streak. The playwright has written him for comic relief and not burdened him with the least bit internal struggle.

Working hard at his new language and hating his English teacher, Yan punctuates the dialogue with misused terms, but consistently accurate insights. Kawai makes him blissfully genuine, continuously surprising, and an audience favorite.

But ultimately, "Mainland Education" plays out like a party that has stopped being fun for the central character, but one that he has no initiative to leave.

Joseph T. Rozmiarek has been reviewing theater since 1973.