What do you get when you have a cast of an ex-convict/talk show junkie, a young mother/ex-drug addict/ex-prostitute, a baby in foster care, an uppity social worker, and an alcoholic motel clerk? You get heart-wrenching sadness, misery and alcohol induced desperate actions, Ricky Lake and Jerry Springer and of course, drama.

George Walker's Problem Child is exactly this odd mixture. One of the six plays published in 1997 by this Canadian playwright, Problem Child premiered first in the U.S. Now, directed by Colette Searls, it will be presented by UMBC Theatre starting this Wednesday, October 18 with a preview on the 17th.

In fifty words or less, the play is about a young couple trying to get their infant daughter back from social workers with the help of their motel clerk. Sans doute, getting the baby back is problematic…and time consuming, with Helen, the social worker, acting as a villain.

R.J. and Denise are baby Christine's parents who have been alleged with child neglect. They stay in a cheap motel room for months because Helen has asked them to "stay put." R.J., played by Kevin James, discovers talk shows while in prison and maybe even God and now, he has much to say about humiliating talk shows. Denise (Renata Melillo), when feeling low, wonders whether she has permanent brain damage. Helen, played by Jessie Dulaney, is an ardent advocator of civilized behavior, and Phillie (Michael Houk) the innkeeper is in a permanent drunken stupor (except on Wednesdays because those are his cleaning days. Bathrooms are harder to clean when you are drunk, he says).

Oh, there are a couple unexpected surprises in there, too, along with a few chuckles, patches of agonizing silence, desperate struggle to be hopeful, and subtle criticism of the way society operates. You don't want me to ruin the plot but the play is weepy-funny in a healthy dosage. The production is brilliant and the acting laudable.

At one point in the play Denise says to Helen: "They didn't throw away old Denise. They just did a repair job." Denise's remark comments on the issues addressed in the play. Everything surrounding Denise and R.J. is trying to define what is right or wrong; the T.V., the social worker, the parole officer. "This," Searls says, "is assaulting to their dignity, their ability to hold life together." "[The play] is not criticizing social work," Searls clarifies.

There is also a critique of contemporary entertainment addressed through R.J.'s frustrated comments. "It is demeaning, insulting, classist," says Searls of entertainment television. "There is a habit of judging people in the off-the-cuff way. There is encouragement of knee-jerk judgment, a sense of good guys-bad guys. So there is no room for individuality," she adds. The play reflects this restricting requirement to fit into a slot: the good or the bad.

All six plays of this series take place in the same motel room, and the characters from individual plays overlap. They still deal with similar concerns.

Problem Child deals with reality, with concerns surrounding us. So don't expect a fuzzy feeling when the cast does the final bow. The play aims to agitate the audience a little, which is fine. A bit of mental stimulation is actually healthy. Searls wants the audience to leave with more questions and curiosity. "With discussions and unsettled feelings," she says.

The performance will run at the UMBC Theatre through Sunday, October 22. The performance on Thursday, October 19th at 4 pm is free to the UMBC campus community (students, faculty and staff). So go there prepared to be emotionally and intellectually charged. For details please visit:

http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/calendar/theatre.html4.