By Melinda Miller

Buffalo United Artists’ season opener “Monsters of the American Cinema” is scary good. With just two actors and no vampires, mummies or wolfmen in sight, it invites you into its living room, makes you feel like one of the family, then delivers a visceral theatrical kick that lingers all the way home. 

The setup is simple. Remy Washington, a widowed young Black man, is now guardian of his dead white husband’s straight teenage son, Pup. Together the two keep the dad’s drive-in theater business going. They host various theme nights, but their favorite by far is “Monster Night,” with its kitschy black-and-white horror movies like “Creature From the Black Lagoon.” In fact, they’ve bonded over monster movies and made a game of it. 

While Remy and Pup seem to be doing okay, Pup remains haunted by his father’s sudden death. Nightmares, monsters in the closet, a chilling dread – all manifestations he can’t deal with alone. 

As director Mike Doben says in his program notes, this is “a story rooted in trauma and the dark entities that manifest in the corners of our minds when we refuse to acknowledge them.” 

Remy has done better keeping those dark entities in check. He must, because he knows Pup is relying on him to be there. 

Playwright Christian St. Croix draws both his characters with a deceptively light touch, trusting the actors and director to take it from there. Actors P.K. Fortson and Ayden Herreid carry off this dynamic beautifully. The Black/white, gay/straight, father/son aspects of their lives are developed with a naturalness that is almost elegant, and the chemistry between the two characters and actors is genuine. 

Fortson melts into the role of Remy, exuding a casual confidence that comes from knowing what really matters in life – and what does not. Even though he lives in a town that is “the red kind of white,” Remy is comfortable in his own dark skin. His monologues are more like musings, providing information for the audience and release for him. They open windows into his present and into his past as an activist and husband. 

In contrast, Herreid adds just the right touch of teenage anxiety to the role of Pup, who struggles with his conflicting needs for independence, comfort and reassurance. This is someone who desperately could use a hug.

As the show opens, Pup is nervously dressing for a school dance while Remy fusses over him. St. Croix has an ear for how people talk, making for sharp and funny dialogue that is as authentic as it is telling.

The conversations are not the only sounds around. Slinking through the background are the eerie melodies of horror movie soundtracks, warning of hidden monsters who are biding their time, waiting to emerge. 

Then, in a crescendo of revelations … Well, something happens that could destroy everything Remy and Pup have created together.  

“Monsters of the American Cinema” pushes Remy and Pup’s all-too-real monsters out into the open, forcing them to be acknowledged. Whether they are defeated … that is the question, isn’t it?

Without giving too much away, the work of fight director by Stefanie Warnick needs to be noted here, along with high marks for the set design by Steve Harter that provided for seamless scene changes. Light and sound by Roy Walker pull the weight of several unseen characters, helping us to mentally insert our own personal monsters as necessary. 

When you leave a show hoping that the characters are going to be OK, that is live theater at its best. Good luck, Remy and Pup. We’re rooting for you. 

Buffalo United Artists has a knack for choosing provocative shows that can be unusually rewarding. This is one of them. “Monsters of the American Cinema” is at Compass Performing Arts Center, 545 Elmwood Ave., through Sept. 28. Shows are Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 5 p.m. Tickets are $30; $25 for students, at buffalounitedartists.org. 

NOTE: The 5 p.m. show of “Monsters” ends before 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14. 

Afterward, in the same space at 8 p.m., American Repertory Theater of WNY will begin its new play workshop series with a staged reading of “There Goes Daisy, Whom I Love,” by Michael Fanelli.

The lobby bar will be open between shows, and admission to the reading is free. 

You can read all of Melinda Miller’s past reviews at Buffalo Stages.