The first time I saw Good People, it blew me away. Each subsequent production has enhanced my appreciation of playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s achievement.

What I knew in advance about the play was an enabler rather than a spoiler at Stray Dog Theatre’s current mounting of Good People. I could better see how meticulously Lindsay-Abaire structured the play and how brilliantly Lavonne Byers interpreted the leading role

Byers plays Margaret Walsh, the single mother of a developmentally disabled daughter who can’t be left at home alone. When her daughter’s caretaker arrives late, Margie is late for work, too. Her habitual tardiness costs Margie her job in the opening scene.

While Margie is fretting over her employment prospects, her friend Jean mentions having seen an old boyfriend of Margie’s named Mike. They all grew up in Southie, a working-class, Irish-Catholic neighborhood in Boston where Lindsay-Abaire himself grew up. Mike got out of Southie and is now a successful doctor. Jean suggests that Margie visit Mike to ask about a job.

This awkward encounter reaches the height of discomfort when Margie suggests Mike has left Southie behind and become “lace curtain Irish.” This comment offends Mike deeply. Southie is still a part of his identity. Its values are at play when the characters from Southie consider what it means to be a good person.

The only character not from Southie is Mike’s wife, Kate. The play’s key encounter occurs when Margie shows up at Mike and Kate’s home for a party even though Margie was told it had been canceled.

Byers’ portrayal of Margie displays a command of the character and the play that surely must come from extensive study, but Byers’ performance isn’t studied at all. Everything seems spontaneous in her strikingly fresh and varied interpretation.

Long before the substance of the threat is revealed, Stephen Peirick leaves no doubt about how threatened Mike is by Margie’s sudden reappearance in his life. Peirick expertly balances Mike’s pride in how far he has risen with the hurt to his pride by the accusation that he has lost touch with his roots.

When Mike and Margie’s sparring between devolves into war, it is a three-way struggle in which Kate offers a perspective not from Southie. The emotional complexity of this scene is as riveting as the fireworks thanks the insights and mastery of Byers, Peireck, and Laurell Stevenson as Kate.

The excellent supporting cast includes Stephanie Merritt as Jean, Liz Mischel as Margie’s landlady, and Stephen Henley as the boss forced to fire Margie in the opening scene.

The production features supportive scenic design by Josh Smith, lighting Tyler Duenow, sound by Justin Been, and costumes by Gary F. Bell, whose direction brings out the best in all the participants.

Good People continues through February 26 at the Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee Avenue.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by John Lamb