The Woolly Mammoth production of The Peculiar Patriot is an incendiary piece of theater, one that runs the gamut of emotionality as it explores the prison industrial complex. But at times, it feels like the show’s more comedic elements are at odds with the vital, informative undercurrent of the narrative.

This is not necessarily the fault of Liza Jessie Peterson, who wrote and stars in this whirlwind one-woman show. In Patriot, she plays Betsy LaQuanda Ross, a woman who devotes a great deal of her time to visiting loved ones behind bars. The thrust of the show is a compendium of her visits with a childhood friend, JoJo, who has three years left on her sentence. Betsy helps keep JoJo’s spirits up, lets her know what’s going on with her family on the outside, and—most importantly—informs her of juicy gossip she’s missing out on.

Peterson is a revelation. She moves back and forth between overt comedy and smart, documentary-style edutainment with ease, balancing Betsy’s emotional story with the homework of statistics and data that back up the reality of the prison system.

It seems the hope behind The Peculiar Patriot is that being brought into such an intimate space—the friendship between two women of color—will help the audience face the complexity of criminality and how our broken system treats people from underserved communities. It’s so easy to “other” convicted felons, as if serving time permanently strips someone of their inherent humanity. By placing their struggles in in this narrative context alongside useful background information, perhaps viewers will leave the auditorium with the perspective necessary to form more empathetic opinions on the subject.

But judging by audience reactions from opening night, this reviewer is not so sure the show is a success in that regard. It can’t be denied how talented Peterson is, or how well-produced the show is. But the broad humor on display seemed to prove more of a distraction for what was a predominantly white audience. Surely many white theatergoers will fix their gaze to the proscenium arch with the intention of being transported, but the moment they start cackling at the deployment of African-American Vernacular English, as though Betsy’s truth is a joke in and of itself, it seems as though the basic trappings of black culture are a shorthand for laughs first and an entry point into human understanding second.

The Peculiar Patriot tries its damnedest to reach across the aisle, but it remains to be seen if even a piece of entertainment this sincere and astute will be particularly affecting.

The Peculiar Patriot runs at Woolly Mammoth through April 20. Tickets $27- $75. Runtime 90 minutes with no intermission.