Andrea Lynn Green (left) and Hallie Foote are in two of the three plays about the Texas town.
Nothing much happens in Horton Foote’s plays, yet you leave feeling satisfyingly full. He may skimp on the whiz-bang action, but Foote manages to say a lot about his characters — and you almost don’t realize he’s doing it. He’s like a master painter whose small, precise brush strokes can fill a large canvas.
That skill is very much in evidence in “Harrison, TX,” a collection of three short plays that opened last night at Primary Stages under the assured direction of Pam MacKinnon (“Clybourne Park”).
As in Foote’s “The Orphans’ Home Cycle,” produced to great acclaim in 2009-10 (Foote died in 2009), what matters here is a sense of place and people — the pieces are all set in the title’s fictional locale, and introduce us to a wonderful gallery.
Set in 1928, the comic curtain opener, “Blind Date,” follows a hilariously mismatched — but is it really? — meeting between the sullen Sarah Nancy (Andrea Lynn Green) and earnest would-be mortician Felix (Evan Jonigkeit). The date was set up by and happens under the supervision of Sarah Nancy’s pushy aunt, Dolores (Hallie Foote, Horton’s daughter).
Much humor comes from the contrast between Sarah Nancy’s disinterest in basic politeness and Dolores’ belief in conversation as a social lubricant.
“I did not get on the beauty pages of the University of Texas and the Texas A&M yearbooks on my looks alone,” the older woman says briskly. “It was on my personality. And that can be acquired.”
The tone darkens in “The One-Armed Man,” also set in 1928. In about 15 minutes, Foote delivers a fully formed tragedy, as an employee who’s lost a limb in a work accident (Alexander Cendese) confronts his boss (Jeremy Bobb).
The evening’s third offering, “The Midnight Caller,” is the longest and most complex, a meticulously balanced ensemble piece that strikes one right note after another.
We’re in 1952, in a boarding house run by Mrs. Crawford (Foote) and hosting, among others, a kind teacher played by the expert Jayne Houdyshell (a Tony nominee for “Follies”).
Two new tenants — the newly divorced Ralph Johnston (Bobb) and Helen Crews (Jenny Dare Paulin), who’s just left her fiancé — disrupt the house’s agreeable routine. Once again, director MacKinnon proves how good she is at suggesting simmering tension.
In all three plays, Foote shows us how small towns affect people — imposing strict social norms, yes, but also fostering fortitude and compassion in the face of affliction. It may not be the trendiest thing, but it’s deeply affecting.