Noel Coward had a word of advice for aspiring young actresses: “The profession is overcrowded/And the struggle’s pretty tough/And admitting the fact she’s burning to act/That isn’t quite enough.”

But once-exasperated actress Deb Norton found a way to beat the competition — and the odds — with her hilarious first full-length play, The Whole Banana. Frustrated by her search for enriching roles, Norton decided to go ahead and write herself the part of a lifetime: Fran, a struggling painter with a crippling bout of artist’s block, a nastily persistent smoking habit, and an ex philandering boyfriend named Phil. After her Nicotine Anonymous sponsor urges her to seek solace in a higher power, she gets in touch with the god Hermes, who awakens the passion lying dormant inside her. (Oh, and he encourages her to tap dance, too.)

What it all adds up to for Norton is a juicy role in a swell romantic comedy, executive-produced by Matthew Perry and his dad.

All because she was burning to act.

Guess it turns out to be quite enough, after all.

The Whole Banana runs through November 9 at the Court Theater, 722 North La Cienega Boulevard, between Melrose and Waring Avenues (310-281-1151). To purchase tickets, go to thewholebanana.com.