Greg Stuhr, Kellie Overbey, and Evan Sibley Photo by Marina Levitskaya

For my fellow non-literary types, this is what playwright Kirk Lynn is referring to when he names his intimate and intriguingly unconventional drama, The First Line Of Dante's Inferno.

And as you enter The Downstairs at La MaMa for director Christian Parker's softly effective and very well acted world premiere production, courtesy of the brand new theatre company, Shadowed Forest, you'll never be led far astray from the theme of searching for the proper path.

Noticeable at once is the flowing elegance of designer Lauren Helpern's set, composed primarily of plywood panels with cutout silhouettes replicating a thick forest, gloomy or bountiful, depending on the whims of designer Zach Blane's lighting.

In the middle of this state park wilderness is a small one-room cabin where Ann (Kellie Overbey) may have found a clue leading to the whereabouts of her sister, Carol, who disappeared some time ago.

"She went to the movies," she explains to young park ranger Craig (Evan Sibley). "She saw some shit like superheroes or something. I know because her girls were at my house."

Tough and resourceful, Overbey's Ann nevertheless displays a cynical weariness after what has been apparently a long search. A decade or so younger, Sibley's naïve Craig is a former high school teacher who seems uncomfortably well-groomed in his uniform.

Though it's Craig's responsibility to tear down the illegal shelter, Ann offers sexual favors in exchange for letting her stay there and bringing her a bit of food now and then.

"I don't want it if you don't want to," says the sensitive fellow.

"Well, you're gonna have to get over that," she instructs matter-of-factly.

While the 90-minute play may be short on linear plot, it effectively focuses on the emotional needs and obstacles of these two contrasting characters as their relationship evolves from a sex-based business arrangement, to friendship and possibly romance.

An older park ranger, Bill (Greg Stuhr), serving as an overdone representation of masculine toughness, is presented on occasion as an obstacle.

What makes Lynn's play unconventional is that, as shown in the press script provided to reviewers, it is written in narrative form like a novella, without lines designated for specific characters.

So even though Ann, Craig, and Bill speak natural dialogue directed to each other, they also, while maintaining a sense of realism, speak to each other in third person narration. This technique allows for moments of sexual intimacy and violence to be presented softer to the audience, but it also plays with our perceptions. Are we seeing the events objectively as they are, or as a character sees them? Are these memories or are they possibilities?

Going back to Dante's initial quote, The First Line Of Dante's Inferno might best be seen as an exploration of what draws us to certain life paths and how we remember the circumstances that brought us there. Post-theatre discussion may be less about what is told and more about the technique of the telling.