Simon’s ‘Lost in Yonkers’ bravely staged by Northern Lights

When you think of Neil Simon, you may think of kitschy, sentimental, comedic sendups of life in New York or Los Angeles, with a lot of one-liners, and a few cheap shots thrown in. Criticize him as fluffy if you’d like, but Simon is one of the most popular playwrights of the 20th century. And I have to admit, I like him. Ever since I saw “Barefoot in the Park” in the 1970s, I have had a soft spot in my theatergoing heart for the man who must be America’s most prolific playwright.

While it is true that Simon has made a career out of stylized borscht-belt humor, he also can take you right to the trunk of dysfunction lurking behind every family tree and, while the jokes are tumbling down like apples from branches, he deftly shakes a few of the prickly leaves. Never is that more true than in “Lost in Yonkers,” which Kent McKusick of Northern Lights Theatre bravely staged over the weekend at Marsh River Theater in Brooks, and will remount later this month for Winterport Open Stage at Wagner Middle School in Winterport.

“Lost in Yonkers,” which won four Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991, is about a Jewish family in Yonkers during World War II and their efforts to endure not only the pressures of international turmoil but of family strife. The story is told through the eyes of two young brothers, Arty and Jay, who are forced to move to the home of their hard-hearted German grandmother because their mother has recently died of cancer and their father must take a job away from New York to pay off the loan sharks who supplied money during her illness.

In the midst of what they perceive to be a 10-month internment at Grandma Kurnitz’s home over the family store, the boys come face to face with the realities of discipline and hard work, as well as with the longings of their Aunt Bella, the shady adventures of their Uncle Louis and the secret pain of their grandmother. When their father returns, they have become young men who have been symbolically lost and found in Yonkers.

The story covers the territories of world history, Jewish culture in America, family dependence and disappointment, and the triumph of ties that bind. For some, these topics might be wrapped up too neatly by the end of this two-plus hour play, but Simon has large goals with this piece, and he works them out with humor and poignancy.

McKusick has the mighty task of bringing the palette of 1940s Yonkers to the canvas of smalltown Maine, and in many of his choices, he accomplishes this with gentle strokes. Nevertheless, the play gets off to a slow start with the sad sack moping of Jim Tatgenhorst in the role of the boys’ father Eddie. That leaves Padraic A. Harrison, as Jay, and Isaac Mitchell, as Arty, with a lot of responsibility to keep the action rolling. And, for the most part, they do.

The scene unquestionably livens with the entrance of Sofia Patience Wilder (formerly known to local audiences as Janeen Teal). As Bella, who is forgetful and child-like but driven by an inner passion, Wilder blazes onto the stage and brings with her a magic glue that makes the members of this cast stick together.

Susan Reardon, as Grandma, and Ron Lisnet, as Louis, also make invaluable contributions to the believability of the story. Pat Mouton, who makes a brief appearance as the gasping Aunt Gert, fits snugly into this quirky, quarreling family portrait.

By the end of the show, both Harrison and Mitchell prove that their ambitions as actors are well-founded. They let the audience in to the unique courage and survival tactics of young men who are forced by the misfortunes of fate to grow up a little too much, a little too soon.

McKusick has his hands full here – largely because this is not an easy play to stage or to cast, especially with community actors. Except for the clumsiness that often accompanies opening night, the show is a product of McKusick’s game directorial insight. Because the production squeezes the heart in so many directions, you will surely forgive the occasionally awkward scene changes, or slipping accents, or crowded set pieces. I, for one, don’t like imaginary props – such as an invisible letter that Jay holds up to read – when the rest of the set is realistic. But that’s a small complaint, really, when you consider the laughs and lessons this production delivers.

Northern Lights Theatre, in conjunction with Winterport Open Stage, will present “Lost in Yonkers” 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and 29, and 3 p.m. Sept. 23 and 30 at the Wagner Middle School.