Young Jean Lee's 'Straight White Men' at InterAct Theatre Company

I'm a member of the title demographic, and expected to feel compelled to apologize for that fateful accident of birth afterward, if not pelted with rocks and garbage for ruling and ruining society.

A family story and more

Instead, Straight White Men sneaks up on us. It's a play about an ordinary family, at first. Samina Vieth's set, a family room in a suburban home, is almost suffocatingly bland (and therefore, rather perfect). With little backstory, we're introduced to three adult brothers: Jake (Tim Dugan), Drew (Kevin Meehan), and Matt (Steven Rishard), the oldest, convening at their father Ed's (Dan Kern) house on Christmas Eve.

Like most people returning to their family home, they revert to childish behavior and old habits. For three brothers, this means lots of roughhousing and competition, but then, as Jake notes, "It all comes out at Christmas."

Intriguing oddities emerge before the play even begins. Vieth's set includes a thick black frame around the stage, which makes the set look like a zoo exhibit. Assistant stage manager Cat Ramirez gives a spirited pre-show speech ("I've got a lot of shit to tell you," she says, "and after the play, you can stay and talk about my sweatshirt"), and then pushes an iPad button to start the play.

Taught to be socially conscious

We hear that in high school, Matt wrote a parody of the title song of the musical Oklahoma! — about how racist ("O-K-K-K-lahoma!") the show is, especially when the drama teacher insists on an all-white cast — and led some friends in occupying opening night by seizing the stage and performing their version.

They boys also play a board game called "Privilege," adapted from Monopoly by their absent, barely mentioned mother, crafted to teach her sons "not to be assholes." Instead of Community Chest and Chance cards, they get Excuses and Denials.

These atypical socially conscious men eventually focus on one issue: Harvard grad Matt's lack of straight white male ambition. He lives with Dad and works temp jobs, trying "to be useful," which banker Jake and writer-teacher Drew see as a defect perhaps requiring therapy.

What is a straight white man who doesn't act like other straight white men? If they're not all "privileged white dickheads," what are they? Is there anything they can do that doesn't make the world worse?

A play to ponder and discuss

Lee's play isn't an essay or a speech; she's not preaching, or setting up stereotypical characters to knock down. Instead, Straight White Men invites us to know these men as individuals, yet simultaneously consider larger questions that Lee suggests and does not answer. InterAct holds a discussion after every performance, rightly expecting that people will speculate, disagree, and struggle.

Director Matt Pfeiffer, another member of the club, gets this right, in my humble SWM opinion. All four characters have their noble and embarrassing moments, their foibles and blind sides, because the actors play the roles sincerely.

Particularly strong is Rishard's Matt, who says the least but obviously has the most unarticulated feeling percolating below the surface. He and the entire production wisely resist drawing larger conclusions — though there is that intriguing final moment when Ramirez emerges with her iPad to end the play. Who's really in charge?