A Bright New Boise

Being part of a scandal is never easy. Seeking to connect with a child who has never known you after said scandal? That's difficult times two. So when a former evangelical Christian's ties to a hellfire-breathing preacher end in disgrace and the death of a teenager, we know that he's headed down a rocky road by moving near and working close to his son, in Samuel D. Hunter's compelling but uneven new character drama, "A Bright New Boise."

Set predominantly inside of a Hobby Lobby crafts store, Hunter's intentionally colorless dialogue is delivered expertly by the cast of five. Coupled with Davis McCallum's sluggish direction, these elements paint a clear, unexpectedly warm picture of Northwestern living. The pacing is slow but never dull, because the juxtaposition of Jason Simms' appropriately plain set with Ryan Rumery's jagged sound bytes of original music creates a delicious irony.

"A Bright New Boise" is a nice foray into the aftermath of ruin and the beginning of redemption, but at 90 minutes we only get an introduction to these themes. Each of the characters, from Will (Andrew Garman), a quiet man seeking a new life, to his son Alex (Matt Farabee), an angst-filled performance artist, is well-drawn, but their stories beg to be developed further. The subject matter is rich and complex, but there are too many unanswered questions and scenes out of sequence. There's also too little stage time devoted to the premise of a father uniting with his son and a hasty ending. As a result, Will is a protagonist whom we can neither root for nor abhor, even though this is the kind of passionate theme that demands we take a side.



Presented by Partial Comfort Productions at the Wild Project, 195 E. Third St., NYC. Sept. 15–Oct. 2. Wed.–Sat., 8 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.partialcomfort.org. Casting by Judy Bowman Casting.