The Cast Photo by Mikki Schaffner

It's probably safe to assume that many theatregoers are also book club members, so there's a fundamentally familiar aspect to the show's set-up: Five people gather regularly at the home of Ana (Marina Shay), a tightly wound journalist who always wants to be in charge, and her husband Rob (Eli Mayer), a likable but seldom serious attendee who avoids reading long books. He's in it for the food.

Will (Matthew McGloin) went to college with Ana and Rob and was Ana's boyfriend, despite his none-too-well-hidden sexual orientation. That lasted until athletic Rob, Will's roommate, turned on his manly charms. Will was the best man at the wedding and the co-founder of the book club; Ana is convinced he still carries a torch for her.

Two more women, Jen (Kim Wuan) and Lily (Annalisa D'Aguilar), round out the group. Jen is a paralegal devoted to books, but who's made some ill-advised personal decisions that resulted in a notorious scandal. Sassy Lily, another newspaper reporter, proudly announces that she's recently arrived from Akron and become a colleague of Ana. The fact that she's African-American might have been a factor in inviting her to the group.

For many book clubs, membership is a tightly held circle, averse to newcomers. Jen noticed Alex (Adam Langdon) in a coffee shop reading "Twilight," Stephenie Meyer's popular vampire tale, and thought he might like to join their upcoming conversation about this book. Ana and Will are immediately shocked and resistant when he turns up uninvited and ready to hold forth. His annoyingly knowledgeable affability adds some sharper spice to the mix.

Zacarías's storytelling employs a meta framework, suggested immediately by scenic designer Jo Winiarski's clever book references. A chaotic flume of books tumbles upward on the stage left wall beyond the pronounced proscenium frame. The lower stage right corner floor is curled as if several pages are about to be turned. The show's intermission is cleverly signified by the projection of the double-bar pause icon.

Such touches remind us that Ana has agreed to allow avant garde Danish filmmaker Lars Knudsen to place a video camera in her living room to record their bimonthly conversations for a documentary. Naturally, self-consciousness prevails, alternating between dismay at saying revelatory things or naively confessing to feelings or judgments that were not meant be shared more broadly. Further compounding everyone's nervousness about how they are portrayed, we learn in the middle of the second act that Ana has been writing a roman á clef novel about a book club–featuring thinly disguised and comically enlarged characters resembling everyone in her group.

Robison's deft direction keeps the show's comedic top spinning, and his cast of able performers are wholly invested in the laugh-out-loud hi-jinks. Shay's Ana slowly comes unwound as her fierce grip on steering the group dwindles. Mayer portrays Rob with a constantly startled then deflated air, when his principal motivation for attending has been the evening's snacks. With piercing snarkiness, Langdon makes Alex the catalyst for arguments with Ana and Will about the distance between "great literature" and pop culture. D'Aguilar and Wuan represent a number of perspectives that might be portrayed as "woke" in today's heated cultural atmosphere. Of course, all of this has been craftily written by Zacarías to touch on more serious themes, but every encounter resolves quickly and humorously

Five actors (D'Aguilar, Mayer, Wuan, McGloin and Langdon) have singular "documentary" interviews shown as videos projected on Ana's living room wall (over a bland beige modern painting), momentarily playing a skydiving senior, a Secret Service agent, a prison guard, and so on. They also happen to be book lovers with various motives. These briefly expand on the relevance of books and reading in varied people's lives, and they add some dimension to the show's underlying themes and philosophies. They're amusing caricatures but, while humorous (and demonstrative of the actors' breadth of talent), they nevertheless feel like unnecessary distractions.

The opening night audience was fully, vocally engaged in this production–gasping at revelations, laughing at startling situations, and exclaiming at turns of events they didn't see coming. All in all, it makes for a rollicking, enjoyable evening

The Book Club Play runs through April 20, 2025, at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Rouse Theatre mainstage, 962 Mt. Adams Circle in Eden Park, adjacent to Mt. Adams, Cincinnati OH. For tickets and information, please visit cincyplay.com or call 513-421-2555.