Entertainment

A tougher, stronger America

Crystal looks sharp in her black business suit and red pumps. Appearances are doubly important for her: She’s a car saleswoman and she’s dead broke. Projecting confidence means a lot.

In fact, things are so dire for Crystal (America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty”) that when we meet her in Laura Marks’ new play, “Bethany,” she’s forced her way into an anonymous suburb’s foreclosed home. From that new, illegal base, she tries to retrieve her 5-year-old daughter, Bethany, who’s been put in foster care.

“I’d do anything for her,” Crystal says. We’ll discover exactly what that entails.

Under Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s efficient direction for Women’s Project, Ferrera gives a vivid performance as a scrappy optimist determined to survive. At times her low, slightly raspy voice threatens to crack, and Crystal sounds as if she’s on the verge of tears. But that apparent vulnerability hides real whup-ass: When the going gets tough, Crystal gets tougher.

Marks is particularly good at depicting people in various states of delusion, and she does so with a healthy splash of black humor. Except for Crystal’s droll boss, Shannon (the very funny Emily Ackerman), and practical social-services worker Toni (Myra Lucretia Taylor), everybody here lies to themselves and to others.

A fascinating blend of naiveté and quick thinking, Crystal is so gung-ho about making a sale to Charlie (Ken Marks, the playwright’s husband) that she fools herself about his actual intentions.

Charlie is a kind of salesman, too. Playing a self-help guru shilling the power of positive thinking, Marks spouts out lines like “We all have the power to manifest our own reality” with a quiet, creepy menace under a blank exterior.

As for Gary (Tobias Segal, laying it on a bit thick), a paranoid fellow squatter, he’s downright unstable. “When the centers of technology and finance go down, we need to be ready to survive,” he tells Crystal. “I know how to trap food and I know all the edible plants.”

When the show takes a sharp turn into noir action, it’s no surprise Gary’s behind it.

Theater likes to pat itself on the back for its social relevance and high-minded ideals, but it’s actually paid little attention to the recession and its impact on the poor.

While not as psychologically complex as David Lindsay-Abaire’s Broadway hit “Good People,” “Bethany” captures many key aspects of the crisis, like the fact that Crystal has a job and still struggles to survive. Whether it’s dreams or cars, it’s tough to sell when nobody’s buying.