An emotionally complex look at a family's life

From left: Francois Battiste as Ennis, Wendell Pierce as William, and Gaius Charles as Malcolm in "Broke-ology." (T Charles Erickson)

WILLIAMSTOWN - Thematically rich, structurally deft, and emotionally complex, "Broke-ology" would be an admirable achievement for any playwright. For one who just graduated from the Juilliard School, it's astonishing.

Nathan Louis Jackson's play, which was part of this year's "Breaking Ground" festival of new-play readings at the Huntington, is now receiving a sensitive, finely honed premiere on the Nikos Stage of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Director Thomas Kail, fresh from the Tony Award-winning musical "In the Heights," demonstrates an equal affinity for the nuances and rhythms of this tightly focused family drama.

Kail's two assignments - big Broadway musical, four-character play in a black box - are less disparate than they might sound. Both "In the Heights" and "Broke-ology" focus on what it means to grow up in a poor but cohesive community, to leave it and to return to those who stayed behind, and to find a balance between honoring family ties and honoring oneself.

In "Broke-ology," that story plays out as a tale of two brothers: Malcolm, back in a black working-class neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan., for the summer after graduating from UConn, with his sights set on a science career, and Ennis, stuck at a low-paying job, taking care of their ailing father, and with a baby on the way. Ennis thinks Malcolm has come home for good; Malcolm, though he's agonizing over the decision, can't bear the thought of abandoning his dreams.

But part of what makes Jackson's writing feel fresh and true - aside from its great humor - is that Malcolm isn't just a selfish striver, and Ennis isn't just a resigned martyr. They are both complicated, contradictory, and human; in their relationship we see the real affection and the real rivalries that grow up over decades of family life.

Even better, William, the father they're struggling over, isn't just a passive victim - in fact, he's the real heart of the play. The first scene shows him in 1982, coming home to his loving wife, Sonia, who's heavily pregnant with their first child; they banter and flirt and fall asleep on the couch. The lights fade; as they come up, Sonia disappears upstairs, and then William wakes up alone. It's 2007, his two grown sons are about to come bounding through the door, and he's been a widower for 10 years.

The assurance, clarity, and sheer technical mastery of that transition give the first clue that this isn't just a pretty decent new play by a young writer. Lots of playwrights mess around with time. But few of them do it so expertly, and to such great thematic effect. "Broke-ology" is a play not just about two young men, but about the family they grew up in, and Jackson's beautifully crafted shifts between past and present, between the future that family dreamed and the real future that followed instead, enrich and enlarge our sense not just of this family, but of our own families, our own cultures, and our lives.

That's big stuff. But Jackson, and the cast he's blessed with here, maintain an ideal balance between the universality of family, aging, and loss and the quirky particulars of these four people: William, given weary warmth and hard-won humor by Wendell Pierce; idealistic Malcolm, energized by Gaius Charles; warily witty Ennis, kept hopping by Francois Battiste; and lost, loved Sonia, whom April Yvette Thompson makes a wonderfully down-to-earth angel. You know these people. But you've also never met anyone exactly like them.

Only a couple of times is Jackson's writing less than smooth - nothing a bit of judicious trimming wouldn't solve. The only other quibble I might have with "Broke-ology" concerns the title, an amusing but off-center reference to one of Ennis's humorous riffs. Then again, "Long Day's Journey Into Night" probably sounded funny at first, too.

Louise Kennedy can be reached at kennedy@globe.com.