This Flat Earth

C+

Ever since I saw Milk Like Sugar in 2011, I have found almost every play that Tony-winner Rebecca Taichman has directed in New York, including Stage Kiss, The Oldest Boy, Familiar, Indecent, How To Transcend a Happy Marriage, Time and the Conways, and School Girls to be a worthwhile experience. Furthermore, the two plays by Lindsey Ferrentino that I had seen — Ugly Lies the Bone and Amy (or Andy) and the Orphans — showed great promise. Therefore, I approached this timely play, now in previews at Playwrights Horizons, with high expectations. I was disappointed. From the very first moment, I didn’t buy into it. Julie (Ella Kennedy Davis) is a 12-year-old with symptoms of PTSD after surviving a shooting at her school. Even for someone who can’t afford a cellphone, she seems remarkably naive and uninformed. Would someone her age really believe that she could save her allowance for a trip to Japan to get a boob job or be shocked to learn that there had been other school shootings? Her mother died in childbirth, so she has been raised by her good-natured but feckless father Dan (Lucas Papaelias; Once), a failed comedian forced to take a low-paying job at the water works. Her shy best friend Zander (Ian Saint-Germain) really wants to be her boyfriend. Their upstairs neighbor Cloris (Lynda Gravatt; Skeleton Crew, King Hedley II) is a retired cellist who likes to play LPs of the classical music she can no longer perform. That music is played by an offstage cellist (Christine H. Kim). Lisa (Cassie Beck; The Humans, The Whale), the grieving mother of a murdered girl, is trying to find a way to get on with her life. The fact that Dan has bought his daughter clothes that Lisa has donated to Goodwill illustrates the difference in the economic situation of the two families. To give Julie a chance at a better education, Dan has bent the rules. When Lisa inadvertently discovers his misstep, there is a crisis. Julie must face the reality that adults are not really able to fix everything. She bonds with Cloris, who has a long poetic monologue predicting Julie’s future. The topics of gun violence and income inequality could hardly be more relevant and the idea that music has the power to comfort is appealing. Somehow, it just did not come together for me. The level of acting varies, with Cassie Beck and Lynda Gravatt standing out. Dane Laffrey’s (Rancho Viejo, The Christians) awkward two-level set is deliberately sparsely furnished. Paloma Young’s (Time and the Conways, Lobby Hero) costumes are apt. Rebecca Taichman’s direction hits all the right notes, but the play itself needs a tuning. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Amy and the Orphans

B

Kudos to Roundabout Theatre Company for their Underground program that produces early work by promising playwrights such as Stephen Karam (Speech & Debate), Steven Levenson (The Language of Trees) and Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews), who prove worthy of a move upstairs to the Laura Pels Theatre for their next work. This new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone) continues their enviable track record. Having an aunt with Down syndrome inspired her to write this tragicomedy about three adult siblings temporarily reunited after their father’s death. Jacob (Mark Blum; The Assembled Parties, Rancho Viejo), a 60-year-old middle school teacher from California, and Maggie (Debra Monk; Curtains, Steel Pier), his recently divorced sister from Chicago, meet at LaGuardia Airport on their way to pick up their younger sister Amy (Jamie Brewer; "American Horror Story") [or, at matinees, their younger brother Andy (Edward Barbanell; "The Ringer")] at the group home in Queens where she [or he] lives and proceed to their late father’s home in Montauk for his funeral. They are dreading the task of telling Amy [Andy] about the death of their father — and mother, who died some months before. Amy’s [Andy’s] protective aide Kathy (Vanessa Aspillaga; Daphne's Dive, The Clean House) insists that state regulations require that she accompany them on the trip. In interspersed scenes, we also meet Sarah (Diane Davis; Golden Boy, The Model Apartment) and Bobby (Josh McDermitt; "The Walking Dead"), a 30-ish couple at a workshop trying to do a communication exercise that might help them reach an important decision. We soon realize that these are the parents of the three siblings and the decision they are trying to reach is whether to institutionalize their Down syndrome baby. The alternation of the two plot lines in two time periods works well. The nature of the topic makes it all the more surprising that the play is basically a comedy with serious overtones. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the humorous dialogue is very entertaining with lots of zingers. On the other hand, the neuroses of Jacob and Maggie flirt dangerously with sitcom humor and Kathy’s exuberance is almost overbearing. I thought the scenes between Sarah and Bobby struck the best balance between humor and pathos. There is a revelation late in the play that punctures the lighter mood. I found the transformation that it elicits in Maggie and Jacob unconvincing. A lot rests on the title character. At my performance, that was Andy and Edward Barbanell played him superbly, especially in the moving final monologue. All the roles must be catnip for actors. Rachel Hauck’s (Latin History for Morons, Hadestown) uncluttered set design facilitates scene changes. Alejo Vietti’s (Holiday Inn, Storefront Church) costumes are evocative. Director Scott Ellis (She Loves Me, Curtains) navigates the changes of time, place and mood smoothly. Even though I had reservations about its flaws while watching it, I surrendered and allowed it to both entertain and move me.  Running time: 90 minutes, no interimssion.

Ugly Lies the Bone ***

With this new play by Lindsey Ferrentino, now at the Black Box Theatre, Roundabout Underground continues its commitment to presenting emerging young playwrights, an effort that has previously paid off with playwrights Stephen Karam and Joshua Harmon. Jess (Mamie Gummer), a soldier badly burned by an IED in Afghanistan, has just returned to her small town on Florida’s Space Coast after a year and a half in a military hospital. She is a participant in an experimental study of virtual reality as a non-drug pain management treatment. Caitlin O’Connell plays the unseen experimenter. Jess shares the family home with her sister Kacie (Karron Graves), a schoolteacher. Their mother has been institutionalized for reasons unspecified. Katie has a dodgy boyfriend Kelvin (Haynes Thigpen) whom she met online. We also meet Jess’s former boyfriend Stevie (Chris Stack), now married and clerking at a convenience store, and eventually learn the reasons for their breakup. Just as Jess has suffered grievous injuries, the town has been devastated by mass layoffs when the shuttle program ended. We follow Jess’s struggles to find a way forward with her life. The cast is mostly strong, especially Gummer. Thigpen's approach to his character, particularly in his early scenes, is too broad. Tim Brown’s set looks lived in and authentic. Dede M. Ayite’s costumes are spot-on. The prosthetics designed and created by Vincent T. Schicchi and Thomas Denier Jr. are convincing.The projections by Caite Hevner Kemp are effective. Patricia McGregor’s direction has a few bumpy spots. I would call the play a diamond in the rough. Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission.