Book of Days by Lanford Wilson

Pulitzer-winner Lanford Wilson’s latest play, getting its area premiere in this staging, cloaks itself in the guise of a murder mystery to level a critique at the tendency toward complacency in the face of abuse of power. When the cheese-factory magnate of Dublin, Missouri dies, his bookkeeper Ruth suspects foul play. Her investigation churns up secrets that the other locals would prefer to be left undisturbed. At the same time Ruth’s been cast in the lead of a community-theater production of Shaw’s play Saint Joan, and as her sleuthing turns inexorably into a crusade, she begins to take on the qualities of the French heroine in real life as well as her acting. She uncovers a conspiracy of collusion among powerful forces in the community, leading to the possibility she’ll go through Joan’s martyrdom as well. Critical consensus on Book of Days puts it a notch or two below his earlier works Hot L Baltimore and the Pulitzer-winning Talley’s Folly, but if his script’s pacing in uneven, he’s still a master of perceptive insights into character, making this a Book worth checking out. Theater in the Round, 245 Cedar Avenue, (612) 333-3010, www.theatreintheround.org