The Right Way

It's about time somebody revived a Preston Jones play the right way. Director René Moreno has assembled a cast that really gets the sound of Jones' "music." This comedy about modest folk in a dust-dry West Texas town speaks its own particular lingo, full of colorful phrases and uniquely Jonesian coinages, like "bumble-dickin'." The play starts when the title character's a bouncy and hopeful high school cheerleader (played in the first act by Catherine DuBord) and winds up with her as a work-weary 40-something (Sue Loncar) taking care of her belligerent daughter (DuBord again), her own mentally ill older brother (Ashley Wood) and their mom (Morgana Shaw). In and out of Lu Ann's life fall a succession of men (Beau Trujillo, Kevin Moore, John Venable), none of whom seem to understand her half as well as her favorite bartender (Kevin Grammer). Nye Cooper plays the town's biggest momma's boy and he's hilarious, too. The humor throughout is sharp and familiar to those of us with roots in Texas. We've all known a Lu Ann, either as a sweet but slightly sad aunt, as the chainsmoking lady who does hair at the "beauty saloon" or as the friendly gal toting the "Howdy Wagon" welcome basket to new neighbors. Good stuff, this one. Through May 6 at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, 5601 Sears St. 214-828-0094.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: April 13. Continues through May 6