STAGE REVIEW : Undernourished ‘Taproot’ Could Stand a Good Dose of Conflict

One of the risks in a memory play is the absence of urgency. In David Hall’s “Taproot” at the Cast Theatre, the experience is one of reflection rather than action.

The staging conveys the sense of living tableaux, akin to browsing through pictures in a family album that suddenly become animated. The result is pleasant and nominally poignant up to a point, but even at a short 70-minute running time, “Taproot” dissipates into sentimentality.

The play taps into the roots of a contemporary family whose eight members are framed through the eyes of a grown son affably performed by playwright Hall. He introduces a series of dramatized flashbacks and frequently steps into the past in scenes with a brother, sister or parent.

The vignettes depict struggles for communication, images from youth (Hall with a football hurling spirals at telephone poles), sibling anger (a welcome flash of emotional blood from actor Brad Craig) and familial love (a saccharine sister calling her brothers “my boys”). Director Robert Schrock’s gentle staging and soft transitions and William McCoy’s artful lighting design give the material a lyricism it does not merit. The effect is not quite soporific but it’s not vital either.

This is a case of a playwright too close to his heartfelt subject and a director who seems to be walking on broken glass. Even instances of gritty casting (Jerry Reynolds as the father, for instance) can’t make the figures compelling.

Near the end, Hall addresses the audience and asks patrons to repeat back to him “the name fa-mi-ly. “ Not once but three times. That worked once for the Pittsburgh Pirates in an inspiring pennant drive (“We are family!”). It doesn’t work here. Talk about nerve.

At 804 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m., runs indefinitely. Tickets: $8; (213) 462-0265.