Dysfunction Junction

As far as Ed Shaw is concerned, he doesn’t have a dysfunctional family. He doesn’t have a family at all. That is, until his three grown children arrive at his oceanfront cabin to sort out their lives.

That’s the untidy knot playwright Peter Dee tries to untie in his 20-year-old drama “A Sea of White Horses” at the Vanguard Theatre in Fullerton. The situation is not time specific. It could have happened then. It could happen now.

The oldest daughter, Connie, is a teacher; she’s the result of an early affair that Ed, who is white, had with a black woman who provided him with the first emotional security he had ever known. The younger son and daughter were the children of Ed’s “princess” of a wife, who died a tragic death as Ed watched her wither.

It’s all a part of Ed’s past, and he wants to forget it. Unfortunately, the kids won’t let him. Connie needs to find something resembling family, Stephen wants to become a doctor but knows he’ll never make it, and Janice is a poor soul lost amid casual sex and drugs. They all need to reconcile who they are in light of Ed’s parental responsibility.

None of the problems is solved, and that’s part of Dee’s statement. Life isn’t that simple. Even Ed’s faltering final attempts to show love to Janice don’t seem a real solution. Like the ocean waves that look like white horses moving relentlessly through the night, this family moves unwittingly through its trauma and emptiness.

“Horses” is a poignant play, without answers, but with a firm belief in the power of each individual to mold his own existence. In this revival, director Jill Forbath Roden understands this and doesn’t give the characters an easy time of it.

She keeps the action tense, even in quieter moments, and stages it interestingly on the very evocative set designed by Jason Beghtol and Robert J. Robertson. The feeling of seaside languor created beneath the nervous fidgeting of the script helps to elucidate Dee’s message of emotions swirling in an ongoing tide.

The performance to watch here is that of Vince Campbell, whose Ed is a fine blending of the man’s inability to accept responsibility and the charm that both of his women and his children find so fascinating. And his edgy, violent outbursts are timed and toned beautifully.

*

Stefanie Williamson is also exceptional as Ed’s oldest, Connie, whose black heritage gives her a solidity and a purpose Ed’s white children lack. Williamson’s well-defined characterization, bouncing from optimistic sureness to angry defiance, is just right for this difficult role.

Jacob Hulthage is the overly emotional son Stephen, his tight-lipped, contained anger looking like weakness to Ed, but as Connie says, it shows a strength that far surpasses his father’s. The restrained evidence Hulthage gradually gives of this strength paints a touching portrait of a wounded survivor.

As the youngest daughter Janice, the only one Ed is able to reach out to, Kristen Davidson is a tightly wound spring, an accident waiting to happen. But Davidson shows enough vulnerability beneath her anger to justify Ed’s final acceptance of her and his muddled attempt to help this most lost of his children.

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* “A Sea of White Horses,”

Vanguard Theatre, 699A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends Sept. 19. $13-$15. (714) 526-8007. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Stefanie Williamson: Connie

Jacob Hulthage: Stephen

Vince Campbell: Ed

Kristen Davidson: Janice

A Vanguard Theatre Ensemble production of Peter Dee’s drama. Directed by Jill Forbath Roden. Scenic design: Jason Beghtol, Robert J. Robertson. Lighting design/stage manager: Bryan Lucas.