That the characters onstage seem equally unsettled and surprised by their own narratives shows that Mr. McPherson is a first-rate playwright.

Although Connelly's introspective style (typified here by Bosch's self-regarding interior narratives) doesn't lend itself to observant nature writing, his prose perks up in this God-forsaken desert outpost, "a neighborhood of trailer homes baking like beer cans in the sun."