Review: CIVILIZING LUSBY at Best Medicine Repertory

A lone man taking on a developer to keep his property. A woman being courted by a man of means favored by her parents and a rogue. A couple whose  prosperous appearance masks deep insecurity, secrets, and recriminations. These are all familiar elements, perhaps even cliches, but in Best Medicine Repertory's new play "Civilizing Lusby," they are given new life in a funny and engaging production.

Directed by Kathleen Barth and written by John Morogiello, who also appears in the show, "Civilizing Lusby is a fictionalized account of a construction project in postbellum southern Maryland. (The program's historical note reads as follows: After the American Civil War there were indeed plans to build a railroad between Annapolis, Maryland and Drum Point on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The rail bed near Saint Leonard still exists as a hiking trail. During the planning stages, two men, hoping to become rich  from the railroad's arrival, bought much of the land where stands present day Lusby. Everything else is an outright lie.")

In St. Leonard, Maryland, 1868, Declan Lyons (J. McAndrew Breen) is planning to develop the railroad with the financial backing of Mr. Goldsborough (Matthew Marcus), the anemic scion of a prominent Baltimore banking family. Lyons and his wife Mary (Rebecca A. Herron), whose five sons all perished fighting for the Union, also see Mr. Goldsborough as a potential suitor for their only surviving child, the flighty Kate (Josie Morgan), who flirts with her father's workmen  to make Mr. Goldsborough jealous. The snag in the railroad scheme comes in the form of Mr. Preston (Morogiello) a waterman who lives in a shack that lies in the track's proposed path.  Preston's face is branded with a "D" for desertion from the Confederate army, for which he served as a surveyor.

Lyons and Goldsborough offer to buy Mr. Preston's land and threaten to invoke eminent domain if he does not accept, but the latter has no intention of going quietly.  To prove himself to his father and appear worthy in Kate's eyes, Mr. Goldsborough attempts to muscle Preston out. That effort, and Preston's retaliation, lead to tragic consequences for all concerned.

The cast members all imbue their characters with dimension and pathos. Morogiello clearly relishes delivering the florid prose he has written for Preston. (A sample: "Miss, my facce ain't fit to be seen by a dainty young 'un, I know. But I endeavor to amend its limitations through buoyance of temper, which I recommend you do not test.")  He is a man who has been wronged by the world and is fully prepared to avenge himself upon same. Neither Lyons or Goldsborough fit the standard mold of hearltess business tycoons. Lyons is a man simply endeavoring to do the best he can for his family in the manner which the world proscribes. Goldsborough feels compelled to prove his worthiness to run the family business, but would clearly be happier in another line of work. As Kate, Morgan balances youthful whimsy with a sense of dread and fatalism.  She would accept a prosperous life as Goldsborough's wife, but is also attracted to Preston's hardscrabble existence. She relishes having them compete for her...until the implications of that rivalry are made manifest. Herron's Mary is a woman who desires stability for her family but conceals painful truths from them.

The drama that unfolds as a result of the conflict raises engaging questions about  bravery and sacrifice, familial bonds, and the nature and costs of "civilization." Anyone familiar with Maryland's history will appreciate numerous cultural references in the literate script. If you've ever read, or perhaps "scaled" is a better term, James A. Michener's epic 1000-page novel "Chesapeake," you will recognize similar themes. Additionally, the topic of infrastructure in Maryland has recently become extraordinarily prescient.

Heather Rody's set-a hotel room where characters discuss different types of business and Preston's shack-and Elizabeth Kemmerer's costumes effectively recreate the time period.  Marcus also served as the production's fight captain and he, along with choreographers Bette Cassatt and Paul Gallagher, create kinetic and engaging physical conflagrations which parallel the conflict in the characters' goals.

"Civilizing Lusby" runs 140 minutes with one intermission. It is highly recommended.