The war in Iraq hits home for the family of an American translator in Steven Levenson's uneven new play The Language of Trees, sensitively directed by Alex Timbers, at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Black Box Theatre.

This promising work concerns Denton (Michael Hayden), a translator, working for a private company in Iraq, much to the consternation of his wife Loretta (Natalie Gold). She has recently lost her job and finds herself barely able to take care of herself and her seven-year-old son Eben (played by youthful-looking adult actor Gio Perez). Their neighbor Kay (Maggie Burke) helps them out, but they begin to resent her interference in their lives. Meanwhile, Denton's precarious po[...]