Anna Sundberg, Sam Bardwell, and Garry Geiken

For the Loyal uses the Penn State University sex scandal involving members of the football coaching staff, with coat-tails all the way to the school's president, as its jumping off point. The play opens with Toby, an assistant football coach, relieving his angst over the discovery of fellow assistant coach Mitch Carlson (who is Toby's supervisor) in a compromising position with a naked young man, by telling his wife Mia what he saw. He had already told the Head Coach Hale, who admonished Toby to say nothing to anyone else, but the need to share the burden of his knowledge is too great—and he thinks he can trust his wife with the dark confidence.

Mia is completely aghast by this incident, and thinks of the world in which the child she is carrying will live. She believes with every fiber of her being, it is not enough for Coach Carlson to depart their University; he must be prevented from ever doing this again, to anyone, anywhere.

When Coach Hale realizes that Mia knows about Mitch Carlson, he brings the four—Toby, Mia, Mitch and himself—together to come to an understanding that will contain the information and forestall damage to the football program and the school. At this juncture, Mia, who is not satisfied with this attempted détente, takes matters into her own hands, very dramatically. For the remainder of the 80-minute play, Mia's mind travels back and forth through different what-if scenarios, imagined meetings with the young man found with Mitch, with the school's Athletic Director and President, with police officers and detectives—trying to sort out whether any course of action could have possibly made a difference. Mia views the consequences of her actions on herself, her marriage, and her child. In the end, we know and understand Mia's choice, and what it costs her.

Anna Sundberg convincingly plays the central role of Mia as a woman driven to do what is right, without regard for the toll it will take. Mia's actions and thoughts make her appear a bit unbalanced, as she seems unfazed by the damage her crusade does to those she loves and those she abhors alike. Only in the end do we understand Mia to be playing through a narrative of certainty; in reality, she has doubts. It is at this point that she shows herself to be fully human. It takes great skill to navigate this turn of character, so hard boiled until we realize there are cracks in the shell. Sundberg nails it.

The remainder of the cast does a marvelous job of creating characters that are completely true to their type, yet feel like real individuals. Sam Bardwell's take on Toby is a basically decent, but ambitious young talent, who just wants to be rid of the trouble he stumbled upon, even if it means belittling and betraying his wife. Garry Geiken is the epitome of a self-satisfied man who is unable to accept, or even to see, the beast that dwells within his suave continence. Mark Rosenwinkel shows the smooth talker, the idealistic team booster, and the claws-out fighter that are all necessary parts of Coach Hale's arsenal. His intent is to stay on top; everything else is strategy. As three teenage boys, all in different ways enmeshed in Mitch's clutches, Michael Fell shows great range and sensitivity.

Set, lighting, and sound design elements all serve the play well, without drawing attention from the unraveling drama. Barbara Portinga's costumes are exactly what we would expect these characters to wear, and depict the different status accorded to Toby, Mitch, and Head Coach Hale.

While drawn from Penn State case, playwright Blessing has made some notable changes in the plot of For the Loyal. The play is set in 1992, close to the time frame in which Sandusky was sexually abusing underage boys, but 19 years before that scandal went public. That time span is significant, as over that period there have been a plethora of revelations regarding sexual abuse occurring, particularly abuse by clergymen. Today, such a report is likely to prompt disgust and dismay, but not as likely to provoke the same degree of shock as 23 years ago. This is helpful in understanding Mia becoming completely unmoored by the incident, which she did not even witness. To add the seeming loss of reason with which Mia responds, we learn that a childhood friend of hers had also been a sexual abuse victim.

On the other hand, the initial incident, in which Toby encounters Mitch with the boy, did not provide as unassailable evidence as the real case, in which a grad assistant witnessed what appeared to be Sandusky engaging in a forced sexual act with a minor. Later, we learn that the boy Mitch had been with was paid for his service. Clearly, Mitch is exploiting the youth in For the Loyal, but the circumstance is not of the same degree of wretchedness as the real case, and further makes Mia's response seem beyond reason. Finally, having Mia, who heard about but did not see the incident, be the one compelled to take action, explicitly raises the question of where does our responsibility to take action begins and where does it leave off.

Blessing raises important questions, and draws out possible answers in ways that are both playful and disturbing. In the end, we are no closer to definitive answers, but we have a much greater sense of the complexity and ambiguity that confound society's efforts to put an end to abusive behavior. For the Loyal is a well-written, sharply performed play, as valuable for casting light on social challenges as for its dramatic merit. On both scores, it deserves to be widely seen and discussed.

For the Loyal continues through May 16, 2015, at the Illusion Theater, 528 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN. Tickets are $20.00 - 35.00. For tickets call 612- 339-4944 or go to illusiontheater.org.

Written by Lee Blessing; Director: Michael Robins; Set Design: Dean Holzman; Lighting Designer: Mike Wangen; Costume Design: Barbara Portinga; Sound Design: C. Andrew Mayer; Fight Song music : Dan Dukich and C. Andrew Mayer; Stage manager: D. Marie Long; Production manager: Per Greibrok

Cast: Sam Bardwell (Toby), Michael Fell (A Boy), Garry Geiken (Coach Mitch Carlson), Mark Rosenwinkel (Coach Tanner Hale), Anna Sundberg (Mia).

Photo: Aaron Fenster

- Arthur Dorman

Also see the season schedule for the Minneapolis - St. Paul region