The older I get, the more baffling I find the life trajectories of the people I know. The successes are as inexplicable to me as the failures: Why did this talented actor become a wealthy TV star, while that one, equally talented, faded from view? Why did this brilliant poet publish book after book, while this other, perhaps even more inspired, couldn’t get his first volume noticed? Why did some of us dodge the hazards of nature and genetics, while others drowned or died of cancer? Let me say it plainly: I don’t understand. If there’s a pattern, I don’t see it. And to call life unfair just seems a way of avoiding the question.
Avoiding the question is precisely what David Lindsay-Abaire isn’t doing in his riveting play Good People, currently showing in a splendid production at American Stage. Good People is mostly about two persons: Margie, a middle-aged woman brought up in the rough working-class neighborhood of South Boston, and Mike, a onetime boyfriend who also grew up in Southie but eventually managed to escape. Margie, when we meet her, is overworked, exasperated, divorced but devoted to the care of her mentally handicapped daughter. Mike, on the other hand, is a successful reproductive endocrinologist with a beautiful wife, healthy daughter, and lavishly furnished home in upscale Chestnut Hill. When the play begins, Margie has just lost another position — this one as a cashier at a Dollar Store — and is encouraged by her girlfriends to call on Mike and see if he can help. So she goes to his office — in spite of his attempts to obstruct her — and asks him to hire her in just about any capacity. But Mike’s not proud of his roots, and tries, fairly transparently, to rid himself of Margie, who manages, nevertheless, to turn up again – this time at his house. The result is a thrilling scene featuring the former friends and Mike’s sharp but mostly uninformed wife.
This lengthy encounter — taking up most of the second act — is so awkward, passionate and revelatory, it belongs in some Hall of Fame for Tense, Devastating Theater Wrangles — I have a feeling I’ll remember it for years, perhaps always. By the time the play ends, we’ve witnessed an emotionally provocative and intelligent investigation of social class, marital tension, race, and memory, and we’ve faced that terribly painful question, why lives diverge as they do. The surprises never stop coming.
Good People is the first American Stage play programmed by Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte, and augurs well for what local audiences have to look forward to. Gularte is also the director of this fascinating drama, and her work couldn’t be better: On every level this production shimmers with professionalism.
The other three actors portray Margie’s working-class, bingo-playing friends. Britt Michael Gordon is likable and upstanding as Stevie, son of one of Margie’s buddies, and the supervisor who has to fire her at the Dollar Store. Vickie Daignault as friend Jean is hilariously foul-mouthed and devious in suggesting that Margie use tabloid-style tactics in her quest for a new job, and Bonnie Agan offers one of her best performances ever as Margie’s gruff landlady Dottie, a hard-of-hearing, hard-nosed complainer.
The several fine sets by Frank Chavez include the squalid-looking area behind Margie’s workplace, the Bingo table at which Margie, Dottie, and Jean look for a windfall, and the high-class interior of Mike’s house with its leather furniture, tall abstract paintings, and precious vases. Becki Leigh’s costumes, from Mike’s white doctor coat to Margie’s jeans, could hardly be more appropriate.
Over it all, the question remains: How inevitable was Mike’s rise and Margie’s fall? Could things have been different but for a few seemingly minor episodes in their lives? Were their futures decided by a moment’s impulse, an unnecessary coincidence? I look at the lives around me, at my own life, and I don’t know the answer. But I’m grateful for this wise and moving play, and for the light that it shines on this ever-perplexing mystery.
Good People (5 out of 5 stars): American Stage,163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, through Oct. 2. Wed., 7 p.m.; Thu.-Sat., , 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 3 p.m. $39-$49, 727-823-PLAY, americanstage.org
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2016.