“Boneyard Prayer”
Written by Frank Maugeri, Charles Kim and Seth Bockley
Showing: Redmoon Theater, 1463 W. Hubbard, through May 11
Tickets: $15
Contact: (312) 850-8440; www.redmoon.org

By Brian Kirst

Contributing writer

Like the grime-soaked love child of Dolly Parton’s stark Appalachian ballads and the harsh inner city croak of Tom Waits’ visions, Redmoon’s “Boneyard Prayer” captivates with a despairingly emotional, ultimately redemptive mood. Even when the simple plotline becomes far too repetitive, “Boneyard Prayer” astonishes with visual and stylistic completeness.

Inspired by 1930’s Americana, historical hobo lore and William Kennedy’s “Ironweed,” “Boneyard Prayer” is concerned with the wandering, drunken Martin. After 20-some years of absence, Martin returns to the spot of his infant son’s death and reencounters his lost love, Alice. With his connection to Alice reconfirmed, Martin can no longer escape his past. After a drunken interlude with Alice, he returns to the graveyard and eventually combats his fiercest demons. The script, conceived by Frank Maugeri and written in collaboration with Seth Bockley, strikes deep into the emotional inner life of Alice and Martin. Their concept’s dialogue consists entirely of Charles Kim’s beautiful country and folk-swept songs. This turns out to be an intriguing and successful idea. Unfortunately, the basic plotline is hampered when too many numbers focus solely on Alice’s and Martin’s past losses and regret. It seems that one such imagining would have been enough to establish this concept and more time could have been spent exploring other characters or experiences.

As expected, Redmoon, known for its work with puppets and individualized props, does not skimp on the eye-pleasing wonders. Floating beds, pianos serving as flashback artifacts and skillfully delineated puppets are the order of the day here. All the props are hand-illustrated and meticulously, though rustically, designed. They add an aged grace and assist in creating the appropriate air of the era. The set, designed by Tracy Otwell, is a deepened pit featuring 641 pounds of dirt (according to promotional postcards) and it is expansive enough to allow the performers their physical freedom while also being oppressive enough to mimic the characters’ overwhelming sorrow and guilt.

Maugeri (with assistance from Otwell) imbues his cast with his passion for the material. Whether shoveling through the loose sod of the terrain or manipulating the life-size puppets, artfully crafted by Jesse Mooney-Bullock, so that they appear to truly breathe on their own, Maugeri’s cast commits with a simple directness and power.

From the moment Alex Balestrieri, as Martin, pops out of the graveyard’s surface like an elfin magician, he establishes himself with firm charm and ease. He corrals several powerful production numbers with the strength of a horse-wrangler and presents Martin’s ultimate peace of mind with a humble grace. As Alice, Kasey Foster highlights the show with reassured heart. Her vocalizing is enriched with hard grit and her handling of Kim’s most powerful song (in which Alice remembers all the beautiful things that have slipped through her fingers) is the show’s most poignant and subtly acted moment. Brandon Boler, Maegen Jenkins and Alice Wedoff all boldly accompany Balestrieri and Foster on their journey, helping to provide the type of individualized entertainment that only a Redmoon production such as this one can.