Provocative. Funny. Heartrending. Chilling. All would describe Tony Kushner's new play, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, but you'd still be leaving something on the table. This Guthrie Theater world premiere catapults the audience into the hurly burly of an extended family facing "end of life" decisions—choices thrust upon them by a paterfamilias with suicidal intentions.

Kathleen Chalfant, Stephen Spinella, Linda Emond and Michael Cristofer

Welcome to the Family Marcantonio: Gus (Michael Christopher), the father, reputedly an Alzheimer's-ridden old commie intellectual with a "heart-on" for the Hereafter; his sister, Bennie (Kathleen Chalfant), a former nun and Shining Path follower with a Buddha-like mien; oldest son Pill (Stephen Spinella), a high school teacher cum labor historian exiled to Minneapolis for sexual misdeeds; his husband Paul (Michael Potts), a theologian who doesn't believe in God but does believe in calling 911; daughter Empty (Linda Emond), a labor lawyer whose partner is expecting their first child (who will also be her nephew); Maeve (Charity Jones), Empty's partner, a soon-to-be mother and recent doctoral grad who captures the clan's M.O. when she says, "silence fucking freaks the holy shit out of me"; Vito (Ron Menzel), the youngest son, Maeve's baby's father via turkey baster and the contractor who renovated Gus' bathroom after his last suicide attempt "seriously fucked up the grout." Throw in Adam (Mark Benninghofen), Empty's former husband and Gus' real estate lawyer; Eli (Michael Esper), Pill's rent boy; Sooze (Sun Mee Chomet), Vito's unflappable wife; and Shelle (Michelle O'Neill), Gus' suicide buddy, and a picture emerges of a family whose elastic has been stretched so far that it no longer contracts to its original dimensions. Stuck in Gus' Brooklyn brownstone like the characters in a Chekhov play, their family secrets, conflicts and double-dealings are exposed but not expunged. The path to escape begins at the brownstone's front door. The struggle at the heart of the play is about taking the risk to cross that threshold.

Bennie calls everyone together because Gus has been "incinerating the family", burning all of their documents in the backyard. It turns out that Gus has a plan—he'll sell the family home for $4 million, and then kill himself to provide his kids with their patrimony; a lifelong Communist turning himself into a commodity for his children's benefit. Now all he needs is the assembled parties' permission to quit the collective early. If much of act one is a committee meeting from Hell where the family tries to reach consensus on Gus' death wish, act two culminates in a symphony of accusations and overlapping dialogue. This terrific ensemble takes their gloves off with inspired theatricality, executing the verbal equivalent of a bare-knuckled brawl. By act three, the specters that haunt the family, and each individual, are wrestled to the ground. The Marcantonios (excepting Vito) are intellectuals by nature and education. They use their wit as both a shield and a sword; traffic in betrayal; talk endlessly to avoid intimacy; and believe in putting principle first (even when they don't practice it). Gus has been both mother and father to his children, losing his wife in childbirth with Vito. A successful labor leader and union man, his kids continue to view him as a heroic figure. How can his children consent to a path that removes him from his pedestal?

Director Michael Greif (Next to Normal, Rent, Grey Gardens) has assembled a stellar ensemble cast for this production. Performances at times were ragged on opening night because they'd been receiving new pages of dialogue throughout their preview period. I am confident this will be ameliorated as they continue to run the show. Greif and his set designer, Mark Wendland, use visual shorthand to create the setting for Eli's digs, a city park and Adam's basement flat, but they go all out with Gus' brownstone—oak pocket doors, carved mantelpiece, the works. We are immediately placed in a space both beautiful and claustrophobic.

Kushner is a master of language and theatrical form, in love with epic themes and unafraid to provoke his audience to struggle with big questions—life, death, one's responsibilities to the community versus individual rights, the makings of a hero. Don't be put off by the three-plus hours of run time of this show. The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide is worth the time and the effort you'll put into it—you may even see it again.

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures May 15 - June 28, 2009. Tuesday - Friday at 7:30p.m.; Saturdays at 1:00 & 7:30p.m.; Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets $24 to $60. Call 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE or www.guthrietheater.org. The Guthrie Theater is at 818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis.

Photo: 2009 © Michal Daniel

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