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Small-town life often has the reputation of being sleepy and slow. However, in the hands of playwright Lanford Wilson, the tiny burgh of Dublin, Missouri, encompasses a whole world of trouble. Wilson's play, Book of Days, opening this month in its West Coast premiere at TheatreWorks, demonstrates that small-town citizens can be just as dysfunctional as city folk.
Dublin has no shortage of dark secrets, in particular, a possible murder mystery: was the hunting accident that killed local tycoon Walt Bates (James Mantell) really an accident? When one citizen, Ruth Hoch (Stacy Ross), investigates, the angry reaction of her fellow townsfolk is such that Ruth begins to identify with her starring role in Dublin's amateur theater production of Saint Joan, a play about Joan of Arc.
The cast includes TheatreWorks veterans Mark Phillips and Darren Bridgett, and Los Gatos actor Gene Carvalho as James, Walt's ambitious son. TheatreWorks founder and artistic director Robert Kelley directs.
With its self-aware style, Book of Days has been compared to a modern-day Our Town. But Wilson may have less to say about seizing the day than about how we're living each day.
Book of Days opens Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. and continues until Feb. 9 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St, Mountain View. Tickets are $20-$43. For more information, call 650.903.6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org
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