COEUR d'ALENE - Jonah Weston is God.

He is also the devil. And he happens to be Billy Markham, too.

The former Coeur d'Alene resident will play all three roles in the production of "The Devil And Billy Markham" by Shel Silverstein. It's just Weston on stage for the one-act, one-hour play that he also produced and designed.

"I have so much fun performing it, I can't wait to do it again," he said. Weston is the artistic director of Action Talks Productions, a theater production company in Portland, Ore. He's returning to the Lake City for a single showing at 7:30 p.m. July 20 at The Icon Underground, 317 Sherman Ave.

One show, one man. More pressure, yes.

More adrenaline, yes. More fun? Yes, too.

His only help will be his sister providing a few sound cues off stage during the transitions between stanzas of the play performed in verse."It's very different from doing any other kind of theater. It's all you, no back up at all," he said. "It's really just you and the audience and the story."

The show had a successful spring run at Curious Comedy Theatre in Portland, Ore., and Weston recently did single night performance of the show at the David Hill Winery in Forest Grove Oregon."I am now bringing the play back to my hometown of Coeur d'Alene," he said. "The idea of taking it back to my roots, where I got started, was really appealing to me."

Weston was born in California and grew up in Coeur d'Alene. He began acting lessons at 11 and was involved at the Lake City Playhouse, North Idaho College, Spokane Civic Theatre and Spokane Interplayers Ensemble. At 17, he got his first professional acting job and has been working since. He has lived and practiced theater in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Hawaii and Oregon, where he lives today. He formed Action Talks Productions two years ago, and this is its first show."Our inaugural piece, I feel great about it," Weston said.

It has received strong reviews. The Portland Mercury wrote: "In the role of the hell-bound country singer Billy Markham, actor Jonah Weston convinced me that if he ended up in a seedy dive with Markham, the two would swap stories, ingest bourbon in fountain soda-sized quantities, and Markham would say Weston was an "all right son-of-a-bitch"--that is to say, he's good."

Shel Silverstein's The Devil and Billy Markham first appeared as a six-part epic poem in the January 1979 edition of Playboy magazine and subsequently as a one-act play at Lincoln Center in 1989. It tells the story of Markham, a down-on-his luck, struggling country singer who is sitting in a bar when the devil walks in and asks who wants to gamble.

Nobody takes him up when Billy Markham steps up and says, "I'll roll the dice."All that's at stake is his soul, and without giving away the story, Billy's luck doesn't change much early on. Even his family and friends are dragged in as the scheming devil gives Billy more chances to win back his soul - or lose even more.

"Generally, you make a bet with the devil, things aren't going to turn out too well," Weston said with a laugh during a phone interview.It continues with Weston playing all three lead roles.

"Billy journeys from Nashville's Music Row down into the fiery pits of hell and back again as he matches wits with God, the Devil and everyone in between," according to a press release.Weston said this is the most challenging role of his career. Having performed it 12 times, he believes it keeps getting better. He describes the play as very funny and very touching. The audience, he said, will have a good time.

"They're going to laugh, they're going to cry. It's a wonderful, poetic story," Weston said.He particularly looking forward to performing in Coeur d'Alene.

And don't bet again Billy in his final shot at redemption."It'll be fun to bring it back to all my friends who haven't seen me perform in many, many years," Weston said.

Information: www.jonahweston.com