One of the characters in Jeremy Menekseoglu's new play is a star of the silent screen, and the plot suggests early cinema's sentimental melodrama: abused orphan girls and cruel factory bosses illustrate the injustices inherent in child labor, points driven home with Dreiserian diatribes. Such over-the-top intensity might cause audiences to retreat, but in this Dream Theatre Company production the period motifs--among them an infectious score of vo-dee-oh-do warbles--act as a buffer for the playwright's Dickensian fervor. As a result the audience remains emotionally involved and receptive to the analogies to the present that the play's disturbing scenarios call to mind. --Mary Shen Barnidge a Through 2/4: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, Side Project, 1439 W. Jarvis, 773-552-8616, $10-$15.