different words for the same thing

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III

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The German philosopher Immanuel Kant once said that the nice part of living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does. It’s a sentiment well suited to the comfortably insular community of Nampa, Idaho, the setting for Kimber Lee’s endearing drama which starts when Alice (Jackie Chung) returns home after a long absence.

Alice, a Korean, was adopted by Henry (Sam Anderson) and Marta (Alyson Reed), but their reunion is a tense affair, underscored by Marta’s frosty “welcome home,” before Marta marches off the stage. Alice decides to stay with the town’s Mexican-American restaurateur, Angel (Hector Atreyu Ruiz), who, as it’s later revealed, was married to Henry and Marta’s biological daughter Maddy (Devin Kelley). Maddy’s ill-fated death years earlier continues to haunt the family.

Using a medley of props, director Neel Keller’s 12-member cast beautifully construct an array of backdrops (store, restaurant, playground, church, office, beauty salon, etc.), giving a textured, emotional resonance to each scene, accented all the more by the large stage.

In a moment of youthful vigor, Angel’s daughter Sylvie (Savannah Lathem) frolics on a swing with Frankie (Erick Lopez), her soon-to-be beau. This courtship is frowned upon by some of the town’s upright Christian citizens because Frankie is from the “wrong side of the tracks.” Even in this small-town world, issues of race and class brusquely intrude, and Lee explores them with painful and sometimes humorous insight. And no small town is complete without a gossiping nosy parker, here in the person of Dottie (Monica Horan), minding everybody’s business but her own.

Lee’s earthy writing is funny, heartrending and unpretentious, and Keller draws the type of layered performances from the cast (rounded out by Stephen Ellis, Rebecca Larsen, Malcom Madera, and Jose Zuniga) that underscores these virtues. The finale is as affecting as it is enigmatic.

Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theater, 9820 Washington Blvd.; Culver City; Tuesd.- Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m.; Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.; through June 1.  (213) 628-2772, www.centertheatregroup.org