L-to-R) Bruce Cromer, Justin Schultz and Michael Kenwood Lippert are the cast of The Drawe

Memory is a strange phenomenon: It can be a pleasant or it can be painful. And sometimes reality is bent and shaped by memories that are full of pain, or reinvented because someone fears will invoke pain. That's pretty much what drives The Drawer Boy, Michael Healey's popular play. (It's been popular on regional stages: Cincinnati Playhouse audiences saw it a year ago). It's the story of two friends, Canadian farmers and World War II veterans, whose routine existence is disrupted by a young actor who comes to observe their lives and gather material for an experimental play he and others are creating.

It's 1972 in Ontario, and Miles (Justin Schultz) is bemused by the two friends: Angus (Michael Kenwood Lippert) seems perpetually addled and simple, while his friend and housemate, Morgan, is gruff and angry, although a wicked sense of humor seems to play just below the surface. He tolerates Miles' curiosity up to a point, but when the young man's questions begin to agitate Angus, he's ready to pull the plug on the whole "experiment."

Thirty years earlier Morgan convinced Angus to enlist in the military, and the two were posted to wartime England just in time to see some horrific scenes of death and devastation. But their time was lightened by two women who eventually returned with the men to the land in Canada they intended to farm. Sadly, Angus was wounded during a London bombing, struck in the head by a devastating piece of shrapnel that left him with little ability to remember events.

Morgan, who feels responsible for Angus's plight, re-tells their tale to him regularly, but gradually tweaks the story to eliminate the painful parts. The reconstructed story, however, begins to crumble when Miles asks innocent questions and Angus begins to remember the real details of his life.

The Drawer Boy (the play's title is the storytelling name that Morgan uses for Angus, who had a talent for drawing and designing -- including plans for a farmhouse that was never built) is a fine drama with an uplifting undercurrent about friendship and truth. It works all the better when it employs three actors who tap into the subtle chemistry between the characters: Lippert turns Angus's simplicity to a kind of gentle, loving presence that is well-nigh irresistible, while Cromer (well known to Cincinnati audiences for many roles at Ensemble Theatre and for playing Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol for many years at the Cincinnati Playhouse) gives a believable texture to Morgan, whose gruff exterior belies his depth of caring for his lifelong friend.

The role of Miles could be handled as a mere catalyst, but Justin Schultz, a drama graduate of UC's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), turns the aspiring actor into someone you care about, too. He genuinely likes these two odd men and regrets the disruption he causes; he half-realizes the practical jokes and tall tales that Morgan perpetrates on him, eventually turning them to his own purposes. It's clear he learns a lesson about caring from the two men. (There's a wonderful scene when Angus and Miles mimic Morgan's telling of the "story" -- they take on his physical stance and some of his speech mannerisms, resulting in a scene that's both affectionate and telling. Lippert and Schultz handle this subtly, playing off the clearly defined character that Cromer has applied to Morgan.)

The Drawer Boy is directed by Richard Hess, who chairs the drama department at CCM. He balances the tension and humor in the production beautifully, orchestrating characters and speeches like a fine musical composition. Using Mark Halpin's understated, earthy set, John Rensel's evocative lighting, Eunjin Cho's subtle sound design and Gregg Coffin's melodic guitar-and-piano compositions for scenic transitions, Hess has assembled a moving production that brings out the best in this lovely story. Grade: A-