Savick takes a Midwest tour

Robert D. Murphy and Alice Duffy star in Wesley Savick's new play.

For "Miss Margaret LaRue in 'Milwaukee,' " writer/director Wesley Savick drew on his Midwestern background.

The play, which starts previews at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre on Thursday, is filled with quirky characters, including an aging ventriloquist, two dock workers, and a lounge singer. Though they seem to have little in common, their sense of place connects them in unexpected ways.

"Where we're from shapes us, even if it's a place we left a long time ago," says Savick, a Milwaukee native. "I find Midwesterners share a self-deprecating sense of humor. But they also have a sense of wonder about life. Everything isn't aggressively in your face the way it is out here."

In "Miss Margaret LaRue in 'Milwaukee,' " characters struggle with their memories of the past in an effort to find meaning in the present. Wistful comments about how the city was once "the entertainment capital of the world" take a comedic spin when the celebrities cited include names like "The Crackle Sisters" and "The Foompers." Characters refer to how it was "back in the day," but the catalyst for the action is a young woman who's trying to move forward with her life. Stories intertwine over a search for the once-famous film star Margaret LaRue.

"I'm not so interested in a linear progression of scenes that simply eavesdrop on characters' conversations," says Savick. "I like to integrate a hodgepodge of styles into my writing."

In this case, that hodgepodge includes several songs the piano-playing Savick wrote for the show. "They're kind of Nat King Cole, Tin Pan Alley," he says.

Savick, best known as a local director, has written or adapted 18 plays over the years. "Miss Margaret LaRue" was penned for Boston University's MFA play-writing program, from which he just graduated. But he says he still doesn't think of himself as a playwright.

"I've always written for a specific actor or for a specific purpose," says Savick, who has adapted everything from a novel by scientist Alan Lightman ("Einstein's Dreams") to the writings of historian Howard Zinn ("Shouting Theatre in a Crowded Fire").

Many of his pieces don't follow a typical dramatic arc, but Savick says that's what makes them interesting. "So many plays are written like TV sitcoms, and it's too easy for audiences to distance themselves from characters," he says. "But when theater's really alive, it can make audiences feel a part of something bigger."

Kate Snodgrass, a professor in BU's playwriting program, says she agreed to make a rare stage appearance in a small role in "Miss Margaret LaRue" because "I'm from the Midwest, and it felt like the town where I grew up. It is so specific, and yet in its specificity it becomes universal. I think we all live in the past to some extent. The trick is not to wallow in nostalgia."

Savick admits the play is wrapped up in his own feelings of loss about the hometown he left behind, but he says, "I'm tongue-in-cheek about it. To merely be maudlin or sad is not enough. You have to laugh."

Thursday through Oct. 26. Tickets: $25. 866-811-4111, www.bostonplaywrights.org.

Time for 'Dancing'
Tickets for the East Coast premiere of "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage" go on sale Sunday. The show is at the Opera House Feb. 7-March 15. Tickets: $30-$91. 617-931-2787, www .broadwayacrossamerica.com.