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<\/a>\u201cThe Jacksonian,\u201d Henley\u2019s new play now being performed at ion theatre in Hillcrest<\/a>, follows her Southern Gothic vein. Set in 1964, the edifice is a motel tending toward seedy not too far from downtown in Henley\u2019s Southern Gothic hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.<\/p>\n Dr. Bill Perch (D\u00f3nal Pugh) has been staying at the Jacksonian ever since he and his wife split up. Susan Perch (Beverley Baker) is quite fragile, at least that\u2019s how her husband describes her. Their teenage daughter, Rosy (Nicole Sollazzo), a studious, obedient girl, misses her father, meets him often for dinner, tries to induce her mother to come along, and would feel better if both parents were under the same roof and life could on as before.<\/p>\n The motel culture among the employees is rather less trustworthy as to veracity. Not two long ago there was a robbery\/murder at the convenience store nearby, and a Negro man was arrested on rather circumstantial evidence. Fred, the handsome young Jacksonian bartender, (Jake Rosko) was a suspect, but Eva (Kristin Woodburn) his chambermaid fianc\u00e9e, has provided an alibi, and they are to be married right after Christmas. Suddenly he\u2019s had a change of heart. She\u2019s a simple girl without too many prospects on how to proceed in order to assure her future.<\/p>\n Henley\u2019s play is so simple on the surface, and yet, as one gazes at the diminishing facets of truth, it becomes apparent something is vastly wrong and there is no clear way for out for any of them. I\u2019m not about to spoil a good yarn for the unwary. Believe me, the play will rock you.<\/p>\n I marvel at the company assembled by co-directors Glenn Parris and Claudio Raygoza. The men, D\u00f3nal Pugh and Jake Rosko, are known for the punch they can deliver. All the young women are making company debuts, and the youngest is still in high school. Listen to the clarity of their entire company singing, however mournfully. And though the tension is unrelenting, there are gales of mirth in the play. Isn\u2019t it a wonder that any of us gets out alive?<\/p>\n My favorite line, and there are many, is Fred\u2019s remark to Rosy Perch that he can\u2019t marry Eva because she smells like crayons in a dirty room. \u201cYeah,\u201d Rosy says. \u201cAll the colors that you don\u2019t want to use.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional wonders are rife \u2014 a detailed accounting of the contents of the hotel by properties designer Melissa Hamilton, what they wear by Mary Summerday, and what kind of light, exactly, we see them in, by Karin Flijian. These are the exacting and the human ways, the tragic ways in we finally see them.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>