Theater: “The Refuge Plays” @ Laura Pels Theater

The most exciting ensemble to play a New York stage these days may be seen in “The Refuge Plays” by Nathan Alan Davis. It’s set smack-dab in the middle of nowhere—a sylvan refuge in southern Illinois, miles from the nearest town.

The play opens on a multigenerational, matrilineal family, in which Early, the wizened, crabby old great-grandmother (Nicole Ari Parker) bickers with Gail, her daughter-in-law (Jessica Frances Duke). Gail, it is revealed, has been visited by the ghost of her late husband Wandering Man, who tells her she will die later that evening.

The second act takes us 20 years back in time, when young Wandering Man, now played by Jon Michael Hill, has returned from walking all the way from Illinois to Alaska and possibly South America. Two ghosts appear to him out of nowhere, announce they are the spirits of WM’s grandmother and tell him his father is not really his “blood father.”

The final act reaches back even further in time to when Early is a young woman. She says she delivered her own baby after clubbing a bear to death and hibernating in its cave all winter. Early meets Crazy Eddie (the ultra-charismatic Daniel J. Watts who played Ike in “Tina”). He woos her with rock candy he’s brought along in his truck.

All this may sound far-fetched and somewhat ridic but combined with the stellar performances it works. There are elements of magical realism throughout (e.g. ghosts, water), motifs of fire, appearances by the truck, and lots of extremely funny dialogue. As for performances, Watts and Parker are standouts.

“The Refuge Plays” is a production of New York Theater Workshop, which continues to swing for the fences. This one’s a homer.

Like this review? Follow me at “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you!