“Into The Earth With You” at Buffalo Theater Ensemble

“Into The Earth With You” by Buffalo Theater Ensemble, featuring Laura Leonardo Ownby, Kelli Walker, Lisa Dawn and Robert Jordan Bailey/Photo: Rex Howard Photography

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Buffalo Theater Ensemble concludes its 2023-2024 season with the world premiere of “Into the Earth With You,” a three-act family drama and thoughtful reflection on grief and trauma.

“Into the Earth With You” begins in 1999 after the death of Grandad, a historian who raised his three granddaughters in a mountainside cabin with tough love and a steady hand. The youngest sister, May Carver, was Grandpa’s primary caregiver and lived in the cabin with him. She calls back sisters Carly and Quinn to sort through his belongings after his death.

May devoted herself to the man who took her and her sisters away following their parents’ abandonment and continues to do so. She speaks respectfully of the value of her work, even transcribing her journal entries for possible donation to a local museum. On the other side of the responsibility spectrum is Sister Carly, a functional alcoholic with a carefree attitude and a “fly by the seat of your pants” mentality. Sister Quinn is a newly sober woman who keeps things close to her chest, including a possible move away from her hometown.

“Into The Earth With You” by Buffalo Theater Ensemble, featuring Laura Leonardo Ownby, Kelli Walker and Lisa Dawn/Photo: Rex Howard Photography

The character-driven show is ably handled by a small ensemble that embraces the heavy material. As May, actress Lisa Dawn imbues her with a mixture of responsibility and discontent. She is haunted by questions about her childhood, but her requests for explanations fall on deaf ears. Laura Leonardo Ownby’s Carly is a firecracker; with long limbs and wild eyes, without filter. Kelli Walker’s Quinn is just as agitated as her sisters but covers it with weary exasperation. The cast is rounded out by Robert Jordan Bailey as self-reliant neighbor Jim, Grandpa’s closest friend and mountain neighbor. Bailey has some of the show’s most comedic moments, a welcome change from the sometimes overwrought verbal sparring between the sisters.

The dialogue is verbose, witty and nostalgic. Playwright Brian Watkins has created a story full of tension but interspersed with moments of real lightness. Director Kurt Naebig wisely gives credit to both, allowing them to breathe. The original music and sound design by Christopher Kriz are well done, especially with two recorded tracks that close the show, and the interstitial music keeps the atmosphere intoxicating. Some things perhaps deserved more explanation—the oblique references to Grandpa’s adherence to local traditions and May’s emotional sensitivities—but it works just as well to leave both open to interpretation.

The Buffalo Theater Ensemble is a talented and capable company, and new shows looking for a staging would do well to take an interest in them and their abilities at the McAninch Arts Center.

“Into the Earth With You” performed by the Buffalo Theater Ensemble (BTE) at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), 425 Fawell Boulevard, Glen Ellyn, (630) 942-4000, AtTheMAC.org, $44. Until June 2.