Theater review: A teen misfit seeks his revenge

Start with a vaguely motivated thirst for power. Stir in an excess of media and spike with morning whiskey. Prepare for a wanging hangover once the buzz wears off.

In "The Sense of What Should Be," playwright Dominic Orlando presents a teenage nerd who exercises his near-religious faith in comic books as a means of becoming a big man on the campus of real life. The idea intrigues and as is the case with his protagonist, Orlando almost pulls off this caper. His script uneasily straddles the mundane desires of adolescence (getting the prettiest girl in school) with the outlandish aspirations of a supervillain (using terror to extort $10 million). A play less moored to a serious intent might have worked better -- something where we could experience the disbelief of a "Spider-Man" movie. Beyond that, Orlando's hero has none of the charisma that would make the journey truly satisfying.

Adam (Dylan Frederick) is a bright misfit searching for something (revenge? power? acceptance?). He seeks out a pastor (John Middleton) who has been disgraced by an inappropriate peccadillo. Adam suggests that the reverend might enjoy a cold splash of revenge on the good town hypocrites who have judged him. "Knowledge is power," Adam tells the reverend.

Power for Adam, perhaps. He uses the confessional information to extort a date with a popular classmate, Marie (Joanna Harmon), and then ups the ante with a ploy that gets him into the local hydroelectric dam.

"Life is not a comic book," Marie cautions as things are falling apart late in the play. Adam demurs, "If only that were so." This might indeed be the perspective of a bright, disaffected youngster, but Adam is so emotionally stunted -- smug and callow, really -- that resists our appreciation. Perhaps that's coming in a sequel, in which Adam emerges from a long prison term a full-fledged psychopath now truly bent on demented revenge. He's never going to be content stocking shelves at the A&P.

Given the number of locations in the script, Jeremy Wilhelm's vanilla set design works well. Andrew Mayer's sound shakes the floor and Michael Wangen defines space well with his lighting scheme.

Middleton has great timing and sense of disillusion that fits the reverend well. Joanna Harmon is a sympathetically charming as Marie. Cory Hinkle takes on the thankless job of numerous roles and does well to differentiate each of them.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299