Greater Clements — a poignant glimpse of rural decline

Old mining towns seldom hum with life. At the start of Samuel D. Hunter’s new play, the fictional backwater of Clements in northern Idaho seems doomed to disappear entirely, having recently voted to “unincorporate” itself. And Maggie (Judith Ivey), Greater Clements’s sexagenarian heroine, has decided to close one of the town’s few remaining businesses — a museum dedicated to its long-shuttered mine.

That’s particularly bad news for her son Joe (Edmund Donovan), for whom the mine, where he used to lead guided tours, and its history represent the only psychological ballast in his troubled life. They are joined by Billy (Ken Narasaki), a visiting old flame of Maggie’s, and his intellectually precocious teenage granddaughter Kel (Haley Sakamoto). Three other characters including Olivia (Nina Hellman), a local busybody, and Wayne (Andrew Garman), Clements’s garrulous sheriff, pop up over the course of just under three hours (with two intervals).

The gently affable Billy, who has terminal cancer, wants the divorced Maggie to move away with him. But she is reluctant to abandon Joe, whom she has recently rescued from homelessness in Alaska. Meanwhile, Joe and Kel, who shares his interest in the mine, start to hit it off.

Under Davis McCallum’s direction, their interactions unfold at an unhurried rhythm that seems appropriate to the dismal pace of life in Clements. Hunter’s dialogue, which is full of hesitations and verbal stumbles, sounds unusually authentic, as do the cast’s Idaho accents. Donovan’s intense performance illuminates the difficulties faced by young men without college degrees at a time when traditional muscle jobs are disappearing. Sakamoto’s understated portrayal of adolescent angst is similarly assured. And Ivey anchors the play as the quietly suffering Maggie, who can’t quite break free of a world that is crumbling around her.

Hunter’s play struggles to justify its considerable length and feels particularly baggy during the final act, which includes too many over-scripted speeches. McCallum’s staging is hampered by Dane Laffrey’s cumbersome and unnecessarily elaborate set, which features several girders at the front of the stage that obstruct the audience’s sightlines. Greater Clements nonetheless offers a poignant glimpse of rural decline without lapsing into maudlin nostalgia.

★★★☆☆

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