Its title may be poetic — thank Robert Frost — but “And Miles To Go” begins with a profane tirade. From a NYC teacher, no less.
After 40 years at the ironically named Urban Sanctuary HS, Adele Priam loses her composure during a community meeting on the possible closing of her school. Things only get more explosive from there.
Priam (Randy Danson) isn’t one of those starry-eyed optimists. “You remind me of one of those people who still believe that their vote matters,” she sneers to a younger teacher. Later, she dismisses her job as “just another day with America’s best and brightest.”
But, cynical as she is, her devotion to her calling is still manifestly clear, even when she’s forced to baby-sit a few troublemakers while her hostile principal (Maria-Christina Oliveras) ponders whether to dismiss her.
At first, this new play by acclaimed Partial Comfort Productions, which gave us the well-received “A Bright New Boise” a few seasons back, seems to be yet another social drama about America’s failing schools, complete with jokes about teens and their addictions to cellphones.
Eventually, though, it takes a much darker turn.
Playwright Chad Beckim isn’t always successful in handling the drama’s shifting tones. But he’s created a memorable central figure in the form of the principled teacher who’s devoted her life to her students while neglecting to have a family of her own.
The supporting characters are equally well-drawn, including the white student (Gabriel Millman) who speaks in hip-hop cadences; the genial custodian (Brian D. Coats) who’s seen it all; Adele’s colleague (Andy Prosky), who doesn’t want to rock the boat; a 24-year-old security guard (W. Tre Davis) marginally more mature than the kids he watches, and the high-school-age single mother (Devika Bhise) of a 2-year-old.
Director Hal Brooks stages the play’s most shocking segment — a reflection of recent horrific events — with a visceral intensity that achieves maximum impact with a minimum of means. And he’s drawn excellent performances from the ensemble, especially Danson (a one-time Madame Morrible of “Wicked”) as the teacher whose fierce commitment to her students provides glimmers of hope in a despairing portrait of our educational system.