‘Important Year,’ Simplistic Approach

Daily life is rather tedious. There are many crises along the way but no contrived dramatic buildups with pleasing conclusions. And while some may fritter their lives away blaming Dad or Mom, this whining rarely makes good theater.

Richard Polak’s coming-of-age play, “My Most Important Year,” is a slightly narcissistic complaint against an emotionally repressed father that equates freedom with emotional dumping. Despite a good cast for this production at Hudson Avenue Theatre, and mostly tight direction by Deborah LaVine, Polak’s script lacks a dramatic arch, creating a flat flow of action, and relies too heavily on father-blame as a simplistic explanation for this family’s implosion.

Seen through the eyes of David (Andrew Ybarra), this “year” is a doozy. His father (Peter Savard) leaves home and then unexpectedly returns. His mother (Jennifer Williams) dies of cancer while his sister, effervescent Bonnie (Lisa Thames), flirts with disaster. Bonnie warns her younger brother that he must face up to their father in order to be free.

Yet this father is well-meaning and caring. He is caught crying in anguished grief but is, like so many men, unable to talk about his feelings. Polak’s script doesn’t provide layered complications of individual motivations. Certainly both the mother and the daughter have a measure of self-destruction that cannot be wholly blamed on the father. David’s “facing up” to his father is less dramatic and meaningful than his confrontation and final rejection of his sister’s slimy boyfriend (William Bumiller).

Ybarra captures the awkwardness of youth and the adolescent impulse to do what is morally right collapsing against the pressure to be cool. As the father, Savard is understated and perhaps too sympathetic to make this piece work. Tom Buderwitz’s effective and simple set design uses multiple swinging panels painted with clouds as doors onto the set, and the floor has a painted representation of a house and a white picket fence. LaVine makes good use of the two rectangular blocks, although some of the set changes are slow and noisy. J. Kent Inasy’s lighting design is also well-done.

* “My Most Important Year,” Hudson Avenue Theatre, 1110 N. Hudson Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 24. $18-$20. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.