The Dream of the Burning Boy

David West Read’s sensitive, polished play, set in a high school in the wake of a popular student's sudden death, is a quintessential emerging-artist showcase: modular set, small cast, 90 minutes, mildly quirky, and evidence that the author can write for both the young and the middle-aged. But Read ties off his work with a neat thematic bow just as we’ve started caring about the characters.—David Cote