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The charming little cupcake of a theater known as Studio Dante has the appearance of a turn-of-the-century salon, so it hardly seems the place for the raw explosion of theatrics on display in Ron Fitzgerald's Cyclone. The play unfolds on a tiny set that displays the mind-expanding inventiveness of designer Victoria Imperioli. Director Brian Mertes effortlessly moves us through this physical landscape, taking us back and forth between a seedy New Jersey trailer park, a convenience store, a bar, a donut shop, and an amusement park. A committed ensemble plays the various characters, digging deep into the souls of people who are on a terrifying ride through life that will ultimately take them nowhere. And guess what? Much of this bleak play is terrifically funny!

The humor resonates in the secondary characters. Richly idiosyncratic, they circle around the desperately unhappy protagonist of the piece: a young man named Mitch (Hamish Linklater), the son of a policeman who has recently been killed. We first meet Mitch with his father's ashes in tow, wandering into a convenience store where a clerk named Bob (Lucas Papaelias) is behind the counter. Their dialogue whiplashes between dark and dangerous and some of the funniest throwaway lines you'll hear in any play this year.

The tension between comedy and its drama gives Cyclone its breathtaking spin. Papaelias's Bob is a goofball extraordinaire but is also likeable in his sweetness. Matthew Stadelmann is hilarious as a drugged-out kid who has a crush on Mitch's girlfriend, played by Marin Ireland in a heartbreaking performance as a young woman caught between hope and reality. James Hendricks gives the play its focus as a wryly comic, tough-talking trailer park neighbor. If everyone else in the cast wasn't top drawer, he would steal the show right out from under them.

Cyclone swirls faster and faster as surprising pieces of information are revealed. Throughout, we care deeply about Mitch; thanks to Linklater's astonishing performance, the character's pain is palpable. Here's a play about wounded, needy people searching (or giving up the search) for meaning in their lives. We were blown away by it.

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A New Theatre Company Takes Flight

Family dramas used to be a theatrical staple. For that matter, families used to be an American staple. Perhaps that's why Stuart Warmflash's Shortly After Takeoff is a memory play. Set in the late 1960s, it is indeed about a family in the throes of disintegration. The father has died before the play begins; the mother (Patricia Kalember) is a well-meaning liberal who's having lots of trouble raising her two teenage sons. The oldest boy (Anthony Bagnetto) is throwing away his early promise and dropping out of college to work on racing cars, putting himself in jeopardy of being drafted and sent to Vietnam.

The focus of the play, however, is the younger son (Eric Shelley). Isolated, artistic, and smart, he is a lost soul looking for answers -- smothered by his mom, ignored by his brother, an outcast at school. The play details his plight with poignant specificity. A sweet if ineffectual stepfather (Bruce Mohat) enters his life, and a pretty young girl (Adelia Saunders) gives him momentary hope, but the play is ultimately about the hard choice that the kid has to make between family and self.

Shortly After Takeoffis the first production by The Harbor Theatre Company, and an auspicious one. Warmflash has written a solid if somewhat predictable play that features a standout performance by Shelley. This young thespian infuses his adolescent character with a reality that is remarkably organic; you never catch him acting. The play is good work, Shelley's acting is great work, and those are reasons enough to attend.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegels@theatermania.com.]