John Alejandro Jeffords, Larisa Oleynik, and Joshua David Robinson Photo by Burdette Parks

The lean-to of the title is sited along a hiking trail (on an excellent set designed by Connor Gallerani and atmospherically lit by Elaine Wong) where the pop-singing, hiking maven Xavier is setting up for what he expects to be another solo night on his extended trek. However, Yvonne and Zed, who are comparative hiking newbies, arrive on the first leg of what Yvonne had hoped would be a meaningful trip for the couple. As the day turns to night, all three do their best to be accommodating and soon open up to one another. Naturally, such an amiable night cannot go on unchallenged, and if, by dawn, our protagonists are not shattered, they are definitely not in a happy place.

Lean-To has wonderful scenes and exchanges but at certain points, the characters tend to ramble on in a way that might feel natural outside of a theater but comes across as rather talky onstage. It is then up to director Jesse Jou and the cast to keep the audience engaged, and fortunately for us, they do this extremely well.

More than suitably fitted out in costume designer Krista Grevas's hiking gear, the protagonists of Lean-To are the sort of people you might meet on the street–likable, even if flawed and sometimes annoying.
John Alejandro Jeffords misses no tricks playing Xavier. He gives us a self-sufficient yet lonely person who can be genial, helpful company, and who "camps" in more than one sense of that word. However, as the play goes on, we eventually see good reasons why Xavier may always be on his own.
If Xavier is a man of the forest, then Zed is a man who is clearly here only because Yvonne brought him along. Joshua David Robinson doesn't just play Zed, he unpacks him and his baggage very convincingly.
Yvonne is trying to make this the best darned hike of all time for herself and Zed, and her eagerness can be a little irritating at times, but Larisa Oleynik also makes her very sympathetic when it becomes clear that Yvonne may be investing far more into this trip than she realizes. There is one sustained moment that is all Yvonne, and Oleynik makes it terrific theatre.

While spectators might wonder at the need to put Yvonne in an isolating spotlight during her main monologue–more distracting than highlighting–there is definitely much to like in this Lean-To, and I will say that just Stephen Sheffer's use of a pair of briefs as a Chekhov's gun alone makes the evening worth it.