A Sam Shepard local premiere is definitely worth considering by theatergoers. He's a legendary figure of stage and screen, a Pulitzer Prize winner and always a provocative playwright, even if this 1993 opus appears to find the modern master re-working a familiar theme like buried secrets. There's a 20-year arch of discovery here, and the setting is the horseracing game, with the action lurching from Kentucky to California and back again. Shepard gives us a fairly convoluted story of payback dipped conspicuously in the lacquer of film noir, plus the main standoff—not unlike his better-known True West—pits a successful man of the American East against a ne'er-do-well old crony from the American West. The mixed reception accorded the 2000 feature film, with theoretically good actors—Nolte, Bridges, Stone, Keener—might portend what the Actors Bridge Ensemble production holds in store: an opportunity for good players to work meaty roles while the rest of us struggle to parse the plot and theme, despite titillating black comedy. It's always nice to see Bill Feehely back in harness (on a stage, rather than in a classroom), and he'll be directed by Dustin Shaffer. Others in the cast include Ross Bolen, C.J. Tucker, Ken Jackson, Alice Raver and Jessika Malone.
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: May 15. Continues through May 24, 2009
