The malevolent legacy of the Vietnam War pervades just about every moment of "Monster," an affecting if not totally satisfying drama by Derek Nguyen (and not to be confused with the 2003 movie of the same title that won Charlize Theron an Oscar). The play is shaped intriguingly as a detective story: A Los Angeles private investigator is hired to find a missing suburban high school student. The 15-year-old boy, Jonny, is a Vietnamese adoptee from Operation Babylift, the mass evacuation of South Vietnamese children at the war's conclusion in 1975.
The detective, Tang Tran, is similarly a Vietnamese adoptee and burdened with his own problems. His wife has sued for divorce following the death of their infant daughter from birth defects stemming, we eventually learn, from Tran's exposure to Agent Orange, one of the poisonous herbicides used by the U.S. during the war. But Tran goes about his work doggedly. There are heated interrogations of people either unwilling or overly willing to talk, and he learns of a vicious beating of another Vietnamese student shortly before Jonny's disappearance, an incident in which Jonny is suspected of taking part.
As the detective pursues the missing boy and the reasons for his disappearance, the case melds into Tran's own search for identity within a painful history of attempting assimilation. And the play moves onto a surreal plane that's striking but not entirely convincing. "Definitive truth does not exist," Tran says in the final moments. Still, a more definitive and rational conclusion to the narrative might give it greater impact.
As the play shuffles between the detective's work and his personal problems, the stage sometimes seems overloaded with overwrought emotions. However, straightforward direction by Kaipo Schwab and solid performances from the eight-person cast maintain the necessary tension. Daniel Lê, as Tran, admirably carries the heaviest load; while the interrogations sometimes lack a certain sharpness, he brings unquestionable depth of feeling to the play's questionable denouement. Also notable is Tonia Jackson in two roles: first a tightlipped school counselor and then a loquacious adoption-agency official (Jackson is totally unrecognizable from one role to the next). Others offering indelible portraits include Patricia Randell, as Jonny's distraught adoptive mother, and Justin R.G. Holcomb, as the boy's estranged adoptive father, a Vietnam veteran also suffering from the effects of Agent Orange.
The deliberately plain-looking set by Gian Marco Lo Forte and the big projections of quotidian backgrounds, which set the various scenes, provide an effective contrast to the highly pitched passions of this important story.
Presented by Pan Asian Repertory Theatre at the West End Theatre, 263 W. 86th St., NYC. April 5–17. Tue.–Fri., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. (Additional performances Thu., April 14, 11 a.m., and Sun., April 17, 2:30 p.m.) (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.panasianrep.org.