A daunting 200 years

Robert Schenkkan’s “The Kentucky Cycle” ranks among the great behemoths of 20th century American drama, consisting of nine chapters with a collective running time of nearly seven hours. For audiences, the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning epic demands a level of commitment that will either feel deeply rewarding or punishing to the extreme -- or perhaps both at the same time.

The current production at California Repertory in Long Beach suffers from occasionally overwrought staging, but it’s a worthy revival that more often than not meets the considerable demands of Schenkkan’s blood-soaked pageant of American history.

Part 1 of “The Kentucky Cycle” spans close to 100 years, beginning in 1775 and ending with the Civil War. The play follows the members of the Rowen family, starting with Michael (David Vegh), a thuggish Irish immigrant who seizes land in deep Appalachia and forcefully takes a Native American girl (Deborah Lazor) as his bride.

Most of the scenes in Part 1 are relatively short and punchy, with the longest sequence given to Michael’s son Patrick (Darren Nash), who is forced to sell the family fortune to pay off years of debt to the rival Talbert clan. Among his possessions are a slave family, the Biggses, whose connection to the Rowens proves deeper and more complicated than expected.

Part 2 tells an even more cynical story, picking up in 1890 with the rise of the coal mining industry. A smooth-talking businessman (Jeremiah O’Brian) persuades the Rowen family to sell the rights to their land for a pittance, thus paving the way for the ruthless practices of big energy corporations. The abusive treatment of local workers eventually provokes Mary Anne Rowen (Sarah Underwood) and her son Joshua (Congher Schomberg) to take up the union cause.

Like other gargantuan dramas, such as “Angels in America” and “The Coast of Utopia,” Schenkkan’s play relies on multiple casting as a practical matter (there are close to 30 speaking parts) as well as a means to underscore the sense of eternal recurrence and shared destinies. By the time the play ends in 1975, the genealogies of the Rowen, Talbert and Biggs families have become inextricably interconnected.

Directed by Trevor Biship, the production seriously lags at points, indulging in over-the-top spectacle at the expense of narrative flow.

Schenkkan’s purely functional dialogue lacks inventiveness and poetic creativity; as a playwright, he’s more adept at evoking the passage of time than the psychology of his characters.

Nevertheless, “The Kentucky Cycle” remains consistently fascinating -- a dark anthem to a nation born from genocide, slavery, Christianity and merciless capitalism. Biblical in scope yet specific in geography, the play bears the unmistakable influence of great epic regionalists like William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and August Wilson.

For certain theatergoers, “The Kentucky Cycle” recalls a not-too-distant era when American plays could still dream big and major companies were still willing to invest in risky new work. (The play had its L.A. premiere at the Mark Taper Forum before moving to Broadway in 1993.)

In today’s climate of money-saving revivals and movie retreads, Schenkkan’s play is a necessary reminder of the ambition, hubris and folly that pulsates through the most adventurous of contemporary dramas.

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‘The Kentucky Cycle’

Where: California Repertory, 854 E. 7th St., Long Beach

When: Now through Dec. 13. Go to www.calrep.org for a complete schedule.

Price: $20 (separate admission for Parts 1 and 2)

Contact: (562) 985-5526

Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes (Part 1); 3 hours, 30 minutes (Part 2)