Monique Marshaun, Yahdina U-Deen, and Sierra Coachman Photo by Aaron Reese Boseman Photography

Elizabeth sets her story in New Orleans, entirely within the generational home of the Bordeaux women. Gloria has moved her mother Betty back into the home to care for her after Betty's heart attack. Although the two are clearly at odds over everything from Betty's regard for her own health to Gloria's cooking, they eagerly anticipate the return of Gloria's daughter Willow on her break from NYU.

But Willow, named for the "wishing tree" on the house's grounds is returning with secrets in tow. Although it initially seems as if the story will revolve around Willow's unwillingness to reveal to her family that she is now in a relationship with her life-long best friend Ree, who has returned from NYU with her for the visit, generations of things unsaid and unrevealed bubble up, threatening every relationship these women have and exposing the precarious underpinnings of their day-to-day lives.

Each of the conflicts Elizabeth weaves into the play is realistic and feels important, but by the end of the first act, which runs close to two hours, the pace of the revelations is so break-neck and their seriousness heightens so swiftly that the danger of lapsing into melodrama seems quite real. Further complicating this, there are simply so many dramatic threads that it is difficult to follow the timelines, particularly for the youngest generation. And this is not simply textual nitpicking; without understanding who was with whom when specific plot points unfolded, it's difficult to understand the stakes for the characters.

To be clear, Elizabeth (along with Reese Boseman and a superbly talented cast) manages to come back from the brink of what could have been melodrama, but one can't help but wonder how much better some of the best moments in the story might be if there had been some judicious and slightly ruthless pruning.

In terms of the production itself, the staging is lovely and effective in a space that is sometimes difficult, given the sight lines of a black-box theater and the challenges of other shows running in a building with inadequate sound-proofing. Kevin M. Rolfs (scenic design) has cannily created a living room, dining room, and kitchen in a tight space, and well-considered blocking allows the action to spill out the often-slammed door and on to a bench overlooking the familial Willow. Rolfs incorporates swaths of fabric into the set that suggest root, trunk and branch, and dangling fringes of green leaves, interleaved with string lights impart a necessary feeling of nature and magic.

Terri Devine Ford's costumes, particularly during the climactic family dinner that ends the first act, build on this. Both Willow and Gloria (as an adult and in her child incarnation) sport fabrics bursting with flowers, vines, and encroaching nature. Ree, in contrast, is outfitted in geometric patterns and almost uniform colors, and Danté, Willow's previous love interest, seems deliberately out of place in his solids.

The lighting by Levi J. Wilkins reminds us that we are close enough to the French Quarter that a paper bag from Cafe Beignet will still let off steam (property and food design, both of which are stellar, by Enjoli Valentine) and the pulse of green, gold, and purple light signals that we are both confined to a very short period and entirely outside of time. Warren Levon's sound design and Ethan Korvne's compositions add to this sensation, stranding the audience in a thunderstorm that is both literal and emotional, but also in the space of an interrupted love song.

The cast here is exceptional, beginning with Monique Marshaun, whose performance as Gloria grounds the entire endeavor. Early on in the play, it seems that the friction between Betty and Gloria is entirely the mundane product of age and economic constraints. But when the depths of the rifts between mother and daughter are revealed, it is not difficult to imagine how this might come across as a bait and switch in the hands of a less capable actor. Marshaun renders Gloria's character arc entirely authentic and heartbreaking.

As Betty, Yahdina U-Deen has a powerful presence and the kind of comedic skill that invites the audience in, then makes them guiltily think about the terrible things they have enjoyed hearing her character say. The play does not quite earn Betty's "face turn" in the space of a very short amount of time near the play's end, but U-Deen's performance more than smooths some rough edges.

As Willow, Sierra Coachman had a some what shaky start at the performance I attended, with a role that is, admittedly, less convincingly realistic than the others, given the somewhat mannered dialogue. However, Coachman more than warmed up in this, the last of the production's preview performances, and particularly in interactions with ASH as Ree, one can see the promise of Coachman in this role.

ASH, for their part, steadies the relationship between Willow and Ree and makes the audience invest in it, even when, from the outside looking in, it seems as if the best thing Ree could do is run. They manage to convey that Ree is so hungry for familial acceptance, and so genuinely loves the Bordeaux women, despite their deep flaws, that she will stay as long as she can.

As both Dantè and Moses (Gloria's father and Betty's first husband), Dylan Rogers is excellent. His interactions as Moses with young Gloria (Deyani Wilson) are especially touching, but in some ways his work as Dantè, a role that feels more extraneous and on the thankless side, is especially impressive and demonstrative of his range.

Beneath The Willow Tree runs through September 29, 2024, at the Upstairs Mainstage at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit www.pulsetheatrechicago.org.