Sat. 2 p.m. Sun. The train is carrying young orphans from New York City to potential new homes in America's heartland. Such trains did exist, from 1854 to 1929, and some 200,000 youngsters were thereby placed with new families, according to literature in the theater lobby. The stage can't accommodate all of them for very long, but being part of a community requires that you remain connected. When actors aren't onstage, they sit on the floor just beyond the stage, providing ambient sounds and occasionally speaking their lines from those positions.
Sounds are vital to the production, from the ghostly breathing of spirits to railroad noises.
More often than not, authenticity wins. Playwright North is served exceedingly well by the cast Sanville has assembled, the best large ensemble at any Michigan theater company in recent memory. Tobin Hissong's guitar playing underscores the proceedings, forcefully on dampened strings to simulate train rhythms, very softly picking out tunes at quiet moments. In a play loaded with mythic motifs, your guess is a good one. They've thought of everything.