CHAPEL HILL -- Plays about dysfunctional families are often tragedies, but a recent trend is for a more comedic, forgiving viewpoint. Eric Overmyer's 1990 "Mi Vida Loca" is in the latter category, a leisurely character study in a rare staging by Deep Dish Theater Company.
The setting is an isolated beach house on the Pacific Northwest coast in 1985. Cranky patriarch Ajay's ongoing drug addiction has soured relationships with his grown children and long-suffering wife, Maggie. Unable to work, Ajay has hired caretaker Diana, who's attempting a break with her troubled past.
Ajay has finally agreed to detox, so the family gathers to send him off: Lulu, the unemployed, hard-drinking daughter, her brother Bubba, a mall security guard, and prodigal son Paco, up from California, where he runs a movie theater. Paco's awkward reunion with Ajay and renewed tensions with siblings and mother are offset by his infatuation with Diana, who returns the interest. But what seems to be a major change for all concerned quickly erodes to status quo.
Overmyer is an award-winning writer for TV's "Homicide," "The Wire" and "Treme." His skilled characterizations and dialogue are disciplined in these by episode lengths and concise editing. By contrast, Overmyer's stage works are more relaxed, less concerned with plot and filled with poetic asides.
"Mi Vida Loca" offers fascinating characters but not much background on their dilemmas, and moves toward no real climax. To enjoy it, audiences must settle back, let the shaggy dog tales and quirky observations amuse them, and not concentrate on the grim circumstances underlying the laughs.
Director Paul Frellick resists artificially revving up the pace, allowing the work to amble along amiably. John Murphy turns in one of his finest performances as Ajay, subtly indicating regrets under his prickly barbs. Jane Underhill's Maggie creates her own little practical world, while Aaron Dunlap gets Bubba's lost life just right. Helen Hagen makes Lulu's spunky bravado a believable cover for unfulfilled needs, and John Allore's Paco takes hardened cynicism to its farthest reaches.
Jeri Lynn Schulke gives Diana mysterious, sensual nuance. Although Diana's relationship with Paco seems a bit forced, Allore and Schulke turn in the play's most arresting scene in a passionate late-night tryst on the porch. That scene is magically enhanced by Scott Marlow's lighting design, which illuminates Rob Hamilton's realistically detailed set.
Strong language and adult situations give some edge to this family snapshot, one that entertains despite its often meandering and disjointed structure.
