Clayton Bury, Cara Barresi, and Mary Rose Hefner Photo by Taylor Vinson

The Buzzer really comes into its own after that—till then, speeches about relationships are delivered straight out to the audience, by Ms. Barresi (though in fairness, this is because she cannot see the angelic spirit that's questioning her, right nearby). And apart from that, the relationships up to that point are sketchy at best. Once Ally lays down her life for another, everything changes for the better.

It's the story of a normal young woman, regretting her own seemingly bad life choices, and wishing she had it all to do over again—but when an angelic figure (Mary Rose Hefner) gives her a gentler, more mystical version of the "put up or shut up" choice, Ally buckles down and takes the challenge.

Ally is presented with a buzzer, which stops time in scenes with her ex-lover (Clayton Bury) or with her estranged brother (Robert Michael Hanson), and gets a second chance at life's crossroads, to take another path. But when her re-enactment of a heartbreaking scene with her brother goes strangely awry, she's forced to make an even bigger choice. And that's at that magical 20-minute mark, in this premiere from Good People Theatre Co. at the sixth annual St. Louis Fringe Festival. In drama, disaster is the key ingredient.

It seemed to me there could have been more variety in the earlier scenes, more intimacy, or more character-related physical business, in a show Ms. Amburgey directed herself. In its current form, however, the production resembles opera or ancient Greek theater in its declamatory style, even as the characters seem decidedly more up to date. But again, in fairness, there's no reason why they couldn't also be treated operatically or as ancient Greek archetypes, of course.

Everyone does nicely on stage, though they don't get any "breakthrough" moments as characters. There are no signature moments for any of them, no apparent moments of physical commentary or any obvious moment of "seeing one another anew," for example. It's just very sincere and matter of fact, which somehow suggests it all could use another draft, a little more psychological punctuation or filigree, and a dash more spice and texture in script and performance.

There is a nice symbolic touch involving oriental parasols, but the sound design suffered at the performance I attended, being unnecessarily loud. The lesson from that is, don't sit "audience left," where the speaker is located, if you can avoid it.

The Buzzer, by Good People Theatre Co., at the St. Lou Fringe Festival through August 25, 2017, Kranzberg Arts Center black box theater, 501 North Grand Blvd. For more information visit www.stlouisfringe.com.

Cast: Cara Barresi, Mary Rose Hefner, Clayton Bury, Robert Michael Hanson