The Steve Woolf Studio Series has returned in style with an excellent staging of Gruesome Playground Injuries. The production has been mounted in a new location for The Rep: the Strauss Black Box Theatre in the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.

The play by Rajiv Joseph covers 30 years in the relationship between Doug and Kayleen. They meet at age eight in the nurse’s office at their parochial school. He has a cut his face from riding his bicycle off the roof when he was pretending to be Evel Knievel. She has a stomachache. Setbacks like these are not unusual for them.

• Kayleen. …Sometimes food makes me sick. My mom says it’s because I have bad thoughts…
• Doug. I get cut all the time by accident.

Brian Slaten as Doug and Jessika D. Williams as Kayleen give superb performances. They bring astonishing intensity to the end of the first scene, when Kayleen asks to see and then touch Doug’s cut. Their unhurried movements suggest that letting down their guard is a deliberate, meaningful act. The intimacy of this moment leaves no doubt about how thoroughly the characters have bonded. The strength of this attachment colors everything that happens afterwards.

Each of the next seven scenes jumps forward 15 years or backward 10 years for more encounters and more injuries. In some cases Kayleen and Doug have not seen each other between the scenes, but the intimacy established at the outset endures. They have empathy for each other’s distress because they are both susceptible to harm caused by inner demons.

The script says the actors should remain onstage between scenes to perform all the changes required to show the passage of time and prepare for the characters’ next meeting. Williams and Slaten command attention while changing their costumes and makeup in full view of the audience. Director Becks Redman ups the ante by having the actors make their initial entrance in street clothes and change into their first costumes onstage. This device helpfully sets expectations for what follows.

The scenic design by Dingle is a flexible space that leaves room for the imagination instead of creating detailed settings. There are lockers and chests that suggest a changing room and mirrored walls that suggest a rehearsal studio. No more specificity is needed.

The atmosphere is enhanced by the evocative work of lighting designer Anshuman Bhatia, sound designer Kareem Deanes, and composer David Gomez. Carolyn Mazuca’s costumes encompass the different ages and circumstances of the characters and facilitate changing clothes onstage between scenes.

In the best tradition of The Rep’s studio offerings, Gruesome Playground Injuries challenges its viewers to think and feel deeply. The show continues through May 13 at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 East Monroe Avenue.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Philip Hamer Photography