NEW YORK—Deception and betrayal can be fascinating ploys to observe, particularly in the safe setting of a theatrical presentation, or so it seems in Richard Greenberg’s “The American Plan.”
A wealthy survivor of the Holocaust spends summers with her daughter across from a popular lake resort in the Catskills. It’s the early ‘60s. The older woman, Eva Adler (Mercedes Ruehl), exerts a profound influence on daughter Lili (Lily Rabe), and when Lili meets a handsome interloper on their dock, Eva’s antennae begin vibrating. The young man, Nick Lockridge (Kieran Campion), claims to be a writer for “Time” magazine, but who can really tell?
Also, Nick is oddly Gentile in territory that is predominantly Jewish. In fact, it’s the heart of the Borscht Belt. What’s he doing here?
It’s clear that Lili, who’s quite neurotic as well as susceptible to an attractive stranger, has fallen hard for Nick. Concerned but always in charge, Eva enlists the aid of her maid, Olivia (Brenda Pressley), to attempt to sever the connection between the young couple. (Pressley, young, attractive and sophisticated, seems oddly cast as the African-American maid who’s been with the family a long time).
However, the two older women needn’t trouble themselves. A second young man, Gil (Austin Lysy), appears on the scene. Although he denies it, he appears to know Nick from the past. And what a past! Eva is able to find out about these personal tidbits, and plans her moves accordingly. (Arguably, the playwright has made it too easy for Eva to get this damning information, but that’s a minor quibble.)
A wealthy survivor of the Holocaust spends summers with her daughter across from a popular lake resort in the Catskills. It’s the early ‘60s. The older woman, Eva Adler (Mercedes Ruehl), exerts a profound influence on daughter Lili (Lily Rabe), and when Lili meets a handsome interloper on their dock, Eva’s antennae begin vibrating. The young man, Nick Lockridge (Kieran Campion), claims to be a writer for “Time” magazine, but who can really tell?
Also, Nick is oddly Gentile in territory that is predominantly Jewish. In fact, it’s the heart of the Borscht Belt. What’s he doing here?
It’s clear that Lili, who’s quite neurotic as well as susceptible to an attractive stranger, has fallen hard for Nick. Concerned but always in charge, Eva enlists the aid of her maid, Olivia (Brenda Pressley), to attempt to sever the connection between the young couple. (Pressley, young, attractive and sophisticated, seems oddly cast as the African-American maid who’s been with the family a long time).
However, the two older women needn’t trouble themselves. A second young man, Gil (Austin Lysy), appears on the scene. Although he denies it, he appears to know Nick from the past. And what a past! Eva is able to find out about these personal tidbits, and plans her moves accordingly. (Arguably, the playwright has made it too easy for Eva to get this damning information, but that’s a minor quibble.)
