Jack's Precious Moment

The loose plot of Samuel D. Hunter’s aggressively quirky black comedy concerns a road trip taken by an Iraq War widow Karen (Karen Walsh) to have a Precious Moment statuette made of her beheaded husband. A stylized lark in the tradition of John Guare and Christopher Durang, the play can be forgiven the broad patterning of themes and twee coincidences the playwright employs for effect. Director Kip Fagan’s heavily ironized production steers his able actors toward a nuanced mix of sincerity and archness.—David Cote