Learning the social graces with 'Mrs. Mannerly'

Phyllis Wright switches between characters so smoothly onstage at the Illusion Theater that watching her is like witnessing a gear-changing race-car driver up close.

She's deft and effortless as she goes from the girl who talks in a dull bass voice to the snot-nosed boy who uses his hand instead of a tissue.

Wright employs these facial, vocal and physical gestures in "Mrs. Mannerly," the Jeffrey Hatcher memory play that opened over the weekend in Minneapolis. Venerable actor Barbara June Patterson, at once warm and schoolmarmish, is right alongside her for the ride to address some elemental questions.

Who am I? How did I come to be me? The usual responses to such queries often spring from religion, existentialism or me-generation solipsism. But in "Mannerly," as in some of his other recent works, playwright Hatcher has been probing beneath these questions with his usual charm and irreverence.

Set in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1967, "Mannerly" is one of those works that recall a faded postcard from a bygone era. The play is about young Jeffrey's etiquette lessons with a demanding teacher, played by Patterson. In 36 years of leading her class, Mrs. Mannerly has not given one student a perfect score. Tough and unflinching, she teaches her charges the finer points of dining and dancing, preparing them for sophisticated living somewhere outside of Steubenville.

It is in this crucible of politesse that the persnickety personality of young Jeffrey, in Clare Brauch's knee pants and smart white shirt, was formed.

In a program note, Hatcher says he wrote this play for the two actors, who are close friends. You can see why onstage as Wright and Patterson, under Michael Robins' clear-eyed direction, bring their characters sharply to life. The production, with its minimal props that include a tea table and place settings, is all about the interactions in Mrs Mannerly's class.

The production winks to some gender-bending theater practices, with an adult woman playing young Jeffrey.

This one-act bit of whimsy is not a great work. It has one joke, about a child's misapprehension of the word "aspic," that is on the edge. But funny "Mannerly" gives us insights into a few of the influences that formed Jeffrey Hatcher, American wit.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390