One thing that Studio Theatre has proven over the past year is that, when necessary, it is unafraid to brutalize its audience. The result has been some of its most ambitious and affecting productions, from the caustic Fat Pig to the harrowing Frozen.

The trend continues with the company’s season opener: Red Light Winter, Adam Rapp’s study of an Amsterdam and New York-set love triangle. While the show’s blatant and at times disturbing sexuality may scare away more conservative patrons, those who can handle it shouldn’t miss this frequently gripping work.

The play effectively captures the rivalry between two friends, the socially-awkward Matt (Jason Fleitz) and the pretentious womanizer Davis (William Peden). While the pair are in Amsterdam, Davis brings Christina, a prostitute (Regina Aquino), back to the apartment in an attempt to get Matt out of a sexual slump and depression. The idea, naturally, has more complications than it seems, and we further understand the significance that the meeting had for those involved when Christina shows up at Matt’s apartment in New York a year later, looking for Davis.