Clint Sheffer's new script has potential but needs another draft. Its offbeat plot, concerning a house of indeterminate ownership and a motley crew of interested parties, takes more than a few interesting turns. And its characters, if a little stock--an amoral villain driven to selflessness by spiritual bankruptcy, a heroine charged with the care of a mentally challenged sibling--seem at core genuine. But the dialogue fleshing out this skeleton is inconsistently convincing and overwritten to boot--the play clocks in at around two and a half hours and sports two or three unnecessary, implausible endings, which squander the story's stakes. Under Sheffer's direction, the acting in this Bruised Orange Theater Company production is mostly good.

--Brian Nemtusak a Through 6/17: Thu-Sun 8 PM, Heartland Studio Theater, 7016 N. Glenwood, 773-588-9092, $10-$15.