Mount Vernon

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
The Hudson Guild Theatre
Through September 18

Among the horrors that manifest in America’s addiction to guns are deaths involving children — either as victims or, more seldom, as perpetrators.

Occasionally, a headline will appear about a child who’s picked up an unguarded gun and shot someone: a parent, a sibling, a playmate. This sort of nightmare and its aftermath was addressed to stunning effect in Marja-Lewis Ryan’s 2014 award-winning play One in the Chamber, which delved into the long-term impact on a nuclear family after one young brother shot and killed another.

The press notes for Mount Vernon, Rena Brannan’s 55-minute two-hander directed by Peter Marc Jacobson, suggest it explores a similar arena — posing the question: “What if you’re holding a gun and you’re six years old?”  The program displays a graphic of a faceless young boy aiming a revolver.

But Brannan’s drama deals with the issue of children and guns somewhat more peripherally than its notes and graphic would intimate. Set in the passenger boarding area of the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., it involves an encounter between two travelers who’ve been delayed by inclement weather: Porter (Brandon Ruiter), a reserved individual absorbed in a laptop endeavor, and Hester (Sophie Ward), a garrulous woman who makes a grand entrance wearing sunglasses but no shoes, and who persistently demands Porter’s attention despite his obvious reluctance to engage.

After prying him from his work (it turns out he designs a computer game, Hungry Cherries), Hester directs the conversation to multiple random topics that include the story about George Washington and the cherry tree — which she insists was a real event — and the science of Isaac Newton, which she questions. At some point she interrogates Porter with a series of rude and probing questions. We’re well into their dialogue before clues emerge regarding her purpose, and where the drama (that telling graphic notwithstanding) is headed.

Brannan strives to construct characters with depth, with some success, but buying into their back story, when it finally does surface, is a stretch; the details don’t quite meld in a cogent and believable manner and the catharsis it leads to is implausibly melodramatic.

As Porter, Ruiter delivers a well-anchored portrayal until the end when he’s swamped by the bathos. Ward is less effective; the character she’s playing is something of an exhibitionist, whose outsized mannerisms come to dominate the performance, leaving too few persuasive glimpses of what’s transpiring underneath.

Although simple, the production values — scenic design by Charlotte Malmlof and airport voiceover by Rose Bae — work well.

The Hudson Guild, 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through Sept. 18. (No performance Sept. 15) www.plays411.com/mountvernon or (323) 960-7784. Running time: 55 minutes.