Lines in the Dust

Set at a top-performing public high school in suburban New Jersey, Nikkole Salter’s 2014 agitprop drama tackles the thorny question of how the present system prevents minority kids from getting a high-quality education. The topic is important—and interesting—but Salter stumbles as a storyteller. Her characters lack depth, and the play itself unfolds at a painfully slow pace, at least until its passionate ending. Director Phyllis Griffin’s workmanlike production for ETA Creative Arts does little to fire up a cold script; in fact her three-person ensemble seems at times tentative and underrehearsed. Benjamin Todd, in the role of a white, male, conservative antagonist, never fully explores the veniality and unrecognized racism that motivate his character.

— JACK HELBIG Through 3/27: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago, 773-752-3955, etacreativearts.org, $30, $25 seniors, $15 students.