Richard Greenberg's The American Plan is a complex psychological drama played out against the background of summer in the Catskills in 1960. A borderline psychotic girl (the lovely Lily Rabe) whose mother (the vividly dynamic Mercedes Ruehl) is a treacherous, over-protecting controller, meets a handsome guy (Kieran Campion) who is a poor, gay New England aristocrat.
It's an engaging play with all the elements of a soap opera sprinkled with some interesting philosophical ideas and insights into human interaction. As in a soap, Greenberg has inserted coincidental happenings to cause conflicts, and by the end, the destructiveness of imposing one's will on another is strongly demonstrated when we jump ten years forward.
I question the set by Jonathan Fensom, which keeps a slanted wooden dock on a turntable as its centerpiece. It's a bold idea, but to me it seems clumsy to have indoor and outdoor scenes played out in its proximity. Lighting by Mark McCullough is just fine.
The good acting by the entire cast (including Brenda Pressley, Austin Lysy and especially Ruehl, whose presence crackles), some of the interesting ideas expressed, and the lively direction by David Grindley make this an enjoyable evening of theater.
