Around a family table deep in the Heartland, where Senator Joe McCarthy once sat and discussed his fondness for beets, nothing is as it seems. Gunnar, the family members patriarch, can be an upstanding farmer – or is certainly he? Why is his favorite girl so stressed to flee to Chicago? And why does her mother want to go too? Girl Charity, a committed wife and mom, is actually frightened of something. Her spouse, Jerry, hates anything un-American, but won’t serve in Korea. As the mysteries multiply, author Timothy Mason solves them with wit and unrelenting suspense.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast efficiency featuring L.D. Barrett, Shannon Cochran, William Fichtner, Julie Harris and Sally Murphy.