WALLED LAKE, MI–“Talley’s Folly,” by Lanford Wilson, set in the small town of Lebanon, Missouri, during World War II, is the story of Matt Friedman and Sally Talley, a fraught match of two people with difficult pasts.

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award in 1980, the story is played out in a single act at the Talley’s family boathouse. It is an intimate and poignant exploration of love, identity, and societal expectations. The play’s strength lies in its ability to delve deep into the complexities of human relationships while maintaining a sense of charm. If it has a weakness—Pulitzer and Tony committee’s notwithstanding—it’s that the structure of the play is just a bit gimmicky and the dramatic payoff feels on the surface to be perhaps a bit flimsy…if also ironic within the context of the story. Without giving a spoiler, the fact that Sally’s trauma feels thin is a commentary on what her community prioritizes.

Matt Friedman (Jeff Thomakos), a Jewish immigrant over 40, is besotted with Sally Talley (Jessica Annunziata), a small-town girl from a conservative Protestant family, defying societal norms and expectations by becoming romantically entangled with a Jew. The chemistry between the two actors is palpable, and the dialogue flows seamlessly, capturing the essence of a budding, unconventional romance. Sally is beyond the age at which by which most young women of her era and social class have settled down into marriage and motherhood.

Thomakos, the artistic director and founder of the company, is quite deft at inhabiting Matthew, invoking just the right vocal intonations of a transplanted Eastern European Jew who has been in the U.S. since childhood. His intensity and animation of the character is also well balanced. Ms. Annunziata evokes the privileged country girl from a wealthy family who knows her affection for a Jew does not play well with her family. That is the least of her problems, though, as we come to find out.

The setting of the boathouse adds a unique dimension to the play, creating an almost dreamlike atmosphere that enhances the emotional impact of the unfolding narrative. The simplicity of the set design allows the audience to focus on the characters and their evolving connection.

The script tries for a blend of wit and sincerity, touching on themes of love overcoming prejudice—a Jewish accountant from Lithuania in this small town awakened a lot of conflicting attitudes in 1944–and the pursuit of personal happiness despite societal constraints. It’s interesting that the characters at the time of the play’s setting do not know the horrors of the Holocaust yet, but Wilson does at the time of his writing. That gap provides an extra layer for the audience to consider about the tension between the two. The feelings between Matthew and Sally, Wilson posits, is an absolute good in a sea of prejudice and dark ideals both globally and locally.

The boathouse set, by Emily Willemse , is very well done, augmented by sounds of crickets and birds by sound designer Thomakos, set at just the right volume so as not to interfere with the dialogue and storytelling. Likewise, subtle signs of shimmering water from lighting designer TyChi on the fringes of the set is also a nice touch.

Directed by Brittany Connors , it’s difficult to say that Talley’s Folly does not hold up after 43 years given the rise in anti-Semitism incidents and events globally these days. Yet, there is something about the story that still seems a touch hemmed in by the time in which it is set and even the time at which Wilson wrote it. There is a also a breaking of the fourth wall in Wilson’s script at the start of the story that may have seemed inventive at the time of Ronald Reagan’s first election, but which feels a bit forced and odd today…at least to this reviewer.

Despite that, in the end Wilson follows a traditional arc of providing a lot of exposition through dialogue leading to an emotional crescendo and plot revelation that does give us plenty to think about—about what is really important in love and life, and the destructive consequences of prejudice, especially as it relates to social engineering by elite families in a small town…and globally for that matter.

Talley’s Folly is playing through December 17.  For show times and ticket information, go to: https://www.inspiredacting.org/