We’re in the busy theater season, so the following is just the first installment of reviews of shows running into October. Want to know what else is playing? Check out our monthly theater preview.

The Trip to Bountiful
Review by Missy Frederick

Sometimes you actually can go home again, and Ford’s Theatre’s arguably unnecessary revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful makes that point in pretty literal fashion.

The play centers around Carrie Watts (Nancy Robinette), a woman reaching the end of her life utterly fixated on the idea of making it back to her hometown Bountiful, Texas — she’s now in Houston, sharing uncomfortably small quarters with her not-so-successful son Ludie (Joe Mallon) and her stiflingly bored, snippy daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae (Kimberly Gilbert).

We know where this is going — Watts is going to break free with her squirreled-away government assistance check, even though it’s clear that Bountiful is much more of a wavering set of lost ideals than any true paradise. (She’s done it before.) But it takes Foote nearly 50 minutes to reach this inevitable shift in scenery, as the play concentrates on establishing the almost inexplicably animous relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (Gilbert doesn’t shy away from Jessie Mae’s less-than-endearing qualities, but gives her some sympathy communicating how Carrie isn’t the only person who feels stuck).

Director Michael Wilson lifts up the plodding play with a set of impeccable performances. Mallon is a reserved, beaten-down contrast to his willful wife and does manage to muster a bit of backbone by the play’s conclusion, for the sake of familial harmony. Emily Kester offers a lovely supporting turn as Thelma, who serves as a sweet guardian angel of sorts to Carrie on her bus journey home. And Robinette perfectly captures Carrie’s quiet struggle for dignity.

But there’s no clear “why now” to this play, where not much happens and when even mild twists, such as some sad news waiting for Carrie at her arrival station, feel suspiciously coincidental. A sincere line about — gasp! — a woman who drinks gets played for unintentional comedy. The journey is the destination in this Bountiful, but Ford’s (or maybe Foote) needs to make a stronger case for taking that journey today.

A Trip to Bountiful runs through Oct. 16 at Ford’s; tickets are $24-54. Running time is just over two hours, with an intermission.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Review by Lori McCue

The program for Studio Theatre’s latest production implores its audience at least three times to keep an open mind about the play they’re about to see. That’s likely because all the characters in Heroes of the Fourth Turning are deeply conservative – some more proudly so than others – and are bound to get a rise out of a liberal theatergoing crowd in the District.

Playwright Will Arbery based the play on experiences in his childhood as the son of Catholic academics. (Like one of the characters, for example, Arbery’s parents hosted a rally for conservative firebrand Pat Buchanan in the ‘90s.) Set in the wake of the deadly Charlottesville riots in 2017, Heroes takes place in the backyard of Justin (Gregory Connors), who is hosting a party for his fellow alumni of Transfiguration College of Wyoming (loosely based on Wyoming Catholic College). Too many drinks lead to porchside arguments packed with dense, Aaron Sorkinesque dialogue about the Virgin Mary, Donald Trump, and whether Planned Parenthood employees are anything like Nazis. You know, the big issues of our time.

While those debates make up the bulk of Heroes, other mysteries in the story can be a bit distracting. What, for example, is the deal with the disease that leaves Emily (played by Sophia Lillis of It fame) angelically suffering in constant pain, and seemingly adored by her friends Justin and Kevin (Louis Reyes McWilliams). “Do you mind if we say the rosary?” She asks them in the middle of a conversation. “Is that weird?” It isn’t, her breathless admirers insist.

Meanwhile, what is haunting Justin, the gruff woodsman who begins the play with a surprising act of violence? And then there’s Teresa (a magnetic Laura C. Harris), a self-professed Steve Bannon fan and Tomi Lahren copycat who writes for a right-wing website and seems ambivalent about her picture-perfect fiance.

Things get complicated when the college’s president shows up, in a brief but showstopping performance by Naomi Jacobson. She counsels her flock with a mix of exasperation and sharpness, whirling on and offstage within about 15 minutes. While she’s around, the show regains some much-needed energy. But while Heroes of the Fourth Turning does its best to portray the conservative movement with nuance, with particular focus on the generational divide in the party, it never quite answers its most compelling questions about what makes these characters tick. Whether Heroes of the Fourth Turning works for audiences depends on their appetite for two hours of politics talk – if it’s lacking, they may leave the theater hungry for something with a little more depth.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning runs at Studio Theatre through Oct. 23. Tickets are $50-$95. Runtime two hours and 10 minutes with no intermission.