It is so cool to watch someone go from the early point in their career to finally getting the chance they deserve. I speak not of the characters of Claire and Molly in Richard Dresser’s quaint comedy Augusta, although those characters earn their own empathetic responses. I speak instead of Ron May. When his name was announced as the director of one of Actors Theatre’s productions, I cheered. No, it wasn’t The Pillowman, a play with which I have no doubt he would have kicked ass, but it was still a well-deserved chance. After seeing this fist effort featuring three talented local actors, (another of whom, Kerry McCue, was also just officially stepping into the domain of professional theatre as an Equity member) all I can say is, “That was nice. And just imagine what he could have done with a stronger script.”  

Most everyone in the opening night audience seemed to enjoy Dresser’s mild satire more than I did. I thought it was all right. It wasn’t nearly as cutting edge as other shows AT is known to mount. It wasn’t even as incisive as other of Dresser’s works, including the very biting Below the Belt. It has a lot of cute jokes and payoffs of situations as the play twists on itself, but I came looking for darkly funny, and all I got was 40-something Molly (Patti Davis Suarez) and 20-something Claire (McCue) dealing with dead-end jobs, idiotic men, and boss from Hell Jimmy (a ramped-up Richard Trujillo). It feels to me like a kinder, gentler feel-good Nickel and Dimed.

McCue and Suarez are good in their roles. Suarez is quick to grab empathy early on with her warily patient delivery in the midst of incompetence. McCue is successful bringing forth her character’s arc from self-entitled townie to a self-actualized player. Neither of these roles are a stretch for these impressive actresses, and it’s no surprise that they do so well.

May and Trujillo decide to start regional manager Jimmy at 120 decibels and push him up until his poignant ending. Throughout the show, it is annoying and increasingly unbelievable (granted, in a world already impossible to relate to this one), but his final scene is such an excellent payoff that you recognize only after the fact that this team of gifted director and actor have played you perfectly.

For some reason, this season has become the Age of the Unit Set, telegraphing locations by establishing different rooms and locales from the start. Here, Kimb Williamson has given us a gorgeous postcard scrim of “Augusta” and three well-appointed playing spaces: a non-descript office; the gorgeous mansion where Molly and Claire work as housecleaners; and a third bedroom space whose purpose grows evident way-too-early to leave any room for surprise as this long one-act winds down. A fourth playing space slides on and off, but this is one situation where seeing it all doesn’t help more than hinder. Linda Essig’s lighting design is workable, and Connie Furr-Soloman’s costumes set tone well.

May’s first professional gig is a qualified success. He’s done a very good job with pretty good material. There’s plenty here to make you smile and laugh, even once or twice from the belly. He’s got so much potential, though; you can’t help but itch for the time he gets to work at this level with material equal to his talents.