Good People

Christy Montour-Larson has directed some of the most significant productions at Curious Theatre Company, and Good People looks set to be another triumph for her and the company. The protagonist of David Lindsay-Abaire’s play is a Boston Southie who, falling on hard times, turns to a successful old boyfriend for...

By Juliet Wittman

April 10, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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Christy Montour-Larson has directed some of the most significant productions at Curious Theatre Company, and Good People looks set to be another triumph for her and the company. The protagonist of David Lindsay-Abaire’s play is a Boston Southie who, falling on hard times, turns to a successful old boyfriend for help. According to Montour-Larson, the title fits: “These are good people, but not great people, flawed but decent. It’s about where they came from, where they ended up, and how the day-to-day choices they made or didn’t make put them there — whether you can ever change or escape your circumstances without abandoning your roots.”

The play is humorous, she says, but “ultimately about class. In other countries there are a lot of plays about class, but in America, not that many. Lindsay-Abaire is from South Boston, a working-class, hardscrabble section, and he says class is something he knows about because he’s lived it; it shaped his identity. The myth in the U.S. is that if you work hard you can accomplish anything, but in reality you need luck, opportunity, and the life skill to recognize what opportunity is. “But there’s a lot of nuance to this play. It weaves these arguments in ever so gently and asks us to go to a deeper, darker, more thought-provoking ending.”

Good People opens tonight at 8 p.m. at Curious, 1080 Acoma Street, and runs through April 19. For tickets, $18 to $44, visit curioustheatre.org or call 303-623-0524.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: March 6. Continues through April 19, 2014

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Juliet Wittman is an investigative reporter and critic with a passion for theater, literature, social justice and food. She has reviewed theater for Westword for over a decade; for many years, she also reviewed memoirs for the Washington Post. She has won several journalism awards and published essays and short stories in literary magazines. Her novel, Stocker's Kitchen, can be obtained at select local bookstores and on Amazon.

Contact: Juliet Wittman