No one writes with more insight, depth, and compassion about ordinary lives in the American Northwest than prolific Idaho playwright Samuel D. Hunter, whose unique talents are once again on display in the West Coast Premiere of Clarkston, the latest Echo Theater Company spellbinder.

This time round it’s Idaho-adjacent Clarkston, Washington that provides the setting, or more specifically the local Costco where town newbie Jake (Michael Sturgis) is being trained by fellow night shift employee Chris (Sean Luc Rogers) in precisely how to stock the store’s huge metal shelves with assorted big-box items.

Though interplay between the 20somethings is somewhat awkward at first, it does allow them to break the ice, Connecticut-born-and-bred Jake informing local boy Chris that he’s a descendant of none other than Lewis and Clark’s William Clark, the man for whom Clarkston was named, and whose diary he often turns to for inspiration.

And while Jake is now a whopping 2700 miles from home, Chris not only grew up just across the river in Lewiston, Idaho, he stayed put for college, and despite living a mere three hundred miles from the Pacific, he’s never seen the ocean, only pictures of it.

It doesn’t take long for three significant facts about the two young men’s lives to be revealed.

First, and most devastating, is Jake’s revelation that he has Huntington’s, a life-shortening neurological disease that has already started provoking occasional involuntary body movements and that almost certainly will kill him before he reaches thirty.

And though aspiring writer Chris’s problems may pale next to Jake’s, at least as far as health is concerned, he’s been dealing most of his life with a meth-addicted mom (Tasha Ames as Trisha), tops among the reasons he finds himself stuck in Lewiston-Clarkston with only the remotest hope of escape should he get into the prestigious masters degree program offered by the Iowa Writers Workshop.

The third significant fact we learn early on is that Jake and Chris are both gay, though whether this will lead to anything happening between the two sexually inexperienced young men is anyone’s guess.

Will Jake and Chris’s friendship develop into something deeper, particularly given the former’s illness and the latter’s co-dependent relationship with Trisha, who swears she’s been clean for six months, though who knows how long that will last?

Indeed, is anything even approaching a happy ending possible for our two young protagonists, no matter how much each of them deserves it?

These questions, and a trio of electrifying star turns held me riveted in scenes ranging from the downright comedic (thanks in large part to Sturgis’s adorably awkward Jake) to the starkly dramatic in as raw and wrenching a mother-son confrontation as I’ve seen on stage.

Chris Fields’ impeccable direction of his hand-picked cast is once again impeccable, as are the performances he has elicited from two gifted Echo Theater vets and one exciting company newbie.

No one does awkward and adorable and endearing and heartbreaking better than Sturgis in a role that feels like it could have been written for him.

Fresh out of Yale and as charismatic as young actors get, Studio City native Rogers makes an auspicious professional stage debut as a man who may have golden boy looks, but try telling that to his scarred heart.

Last but not least, Ames acts the hell out of a role she makes alternately loving and manipulative and frightened and vicious and caring, to indelible effect.

The backdrop of scenic designer Amanda Knehans appropriately stark set builds gradually to a stunning last-scene surprise, and it has been exquisitely lit by Matt Richter.

Dianne K. Graebner’s costumes are pitch-perfect for each character, and the song that underscores Alysha Bermudez’s haunting sound design is inspired.

Clarkston is produced by Kelly Beech, Marie Bland, and Fields. Natalya Nielsen is associate producer.

Kendall McDermott is assistant director. Lisa Toudic is production stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

In play after play, Samuel D. Hunter (whose screenplay for The Whale helped earn Brendan Fraser a much-deserved Oscar) has illuminated the human heart as few contemporary playwrights can. It’s hard to imagine a finer West Coast Premiere for the remarkable Clarkston than its Echo Theater Company debut.

The Echo Theater Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com

–Steven Stanley
September 14, 2024
Photos: Cooper Bates

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Echo Theater Company, Los Angeles Theater Review, Samuel D. Hunter