Photo Caption: Amber Reauchean Williams, Victor Williams, and Daniel Abeles Photo by James Leynse

This is not a Civil War play (it takes place in 2017), but if you sift the embers, you'll find they have never completely gone cold. Here we are decidedly ensconced in MAGA territory, where Trump/Pence signs dot the yards and Confederate flags are commonly seen. Still, even for those in the audience who might feel uncomfortable in such a setting, it is still possible to sympathize with the play's lead character, Jeff (Daniel Abeles), at least for a while.

When we first meet up with Jeff, he is in a hospital maternity ward, looking through a glass window at his newborn son Hunter. He is happy as a clam at high tide, and while his language may be strewn with interesting word choices as he addresses the "little fucker," there is no mistaking the genuineness of his pride and his joy.

But there are clouds on the horizon, and a storm is brewing even in this moment of exultation. There is, significantly, the fact that Hunter's mom, Jeff's wife Michelle (Molly Carden), is suffering from postpartum depression. That alone colors much of Act I. But it is only the first visible layer as the play unpacks more and more about Jeff and Michelle's difficult lives together, and the dreams he has of securing a place of advantage for Hunter within the community where he will grow up and likely live out his life.

To that end, Jeff's good old boy bud Dylan (Luke Robertson), the one who thinks it's clever to go around wearing a t-shirt that declares "Black Labs Matter," has been encouraging him to join up with the local white supremacy group. But first, Jeff has to send off for one of those tests that uses your DNA to determine your ancestry. Gotta make sure he meets the purity requirement.

But, oops, things get sticky when Jeff learns his family tree acquired some African branches in the past. How sticky, you'll learn just before intermission, with its impact felt through the rest of the play. Suffice it to say, when the news gets out, life becomes increasingly difficult for Jeff and impossible for Michelle.

In Act II, we are introduced to Gerald (Victor Williams), a Black columnist for The Washington Post, who decides to investigate the uproar in Sharpsburg. He and his daughter Chris (Amber Reauchean Williams), a journalism student, decide to take a little road trip to meet up with Jeff, whose situation he has gotten wind of. While there, Gerald also interviews Jeff's rather more genial friend Poot (Tobias Segal) and Jeff's former girlfriend Alma (Andrea Syglowski) in order to get to the bottom of the story, which gets scarier and uglier as we approach the ending.

Not a lot of chuckles to be found in Amerikin, to be sure, and sometimes it stretches the bounds of credibility. But the entire cast give solid performances under Jade King Carroll's direction, and you are sure to be caught up in the tension that continually mounts throughout this truly gripping production.