Ensemble’s ‘North Pool’ not best example of work by talented Rajiv Joseph’s

As I have noted on a number of occasions, playwright Rajiv Joseph has a remarkable proclivity for examining big-ticket issues by way of small-scale stories.

In his “Mr. Wolf,” the infinite possibilities of the universe are explored by way of a parent whose child has been abducted by an astronomer and the infinitesimal odds of finding her alive.

In his 2010 Pulitzer Prizenominated drama, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” Man’s inhumanity to Man is examined through a running narrative supplied by a tiger trapped in a cage that is surrounded by the Gulf war.

And in one-act “The North Pool,” which premiered Off-Off Broadway in 2013 and is on stage at Ensemble Theatre, Joseph breaks down the nature of ethnic, racial and religious prejudice by placing two people — a public high school vice principal and a transfer student — in a room.

While the small confines of the vice principal’s office (realistically rendered by set designer Walter Boswell) make for an intense evening of theater, it can also be argued Joseph has set his sights so small as to keep this interesting play from becoming particularly intriguing.

Dr. Danielson (David Vegh) is a middle-aged, passive-aggressive white man in a bad suit. He has called Khadim Asmaan (Santino Montanez), an Arab-American Muslim with a bad attitude and no parental supervision, into his office for a chat just as school has let out for spring break. The chat quickly escalates into detention.

It is unclear why Asmaan has been singled out, but Danielson brings up the random acts of vandalism that have been occurring throughout the school. There’s been a bomb threat as well and a fellow student — a young girl who was a promising flute player — has recently committed suicide. Does Asmaan know anything about these events? Is Asmaan happy at the school since transferring mid-term? Has he had difficulty making friends, particularly since he comes from “a different background”?

At first, this play appears to be a rather standard exploration of social injustice with the typical battle lines being drawn between old/young, native/immigrant and empowered/disenfranchised until Asmaan responds to Danielson’s reference to “a different background” with “Oh, you mean private school?”

It is then that this play starts stripping away the preconceived perceptions and underlying assumptions that drive prejudice and reveals the unique individuals who reside beneath the obvious and inherited attributes of age, ethnicity and authority.

Joseph sets up and then dispels each layer of false perception so very organically. But then the persistent bait and switch, parry and thrust, and inquiries leading to dead ends grow tiresome.

Fortunately, both Vegh and Montanez do a wonderful job of creating authentic characters and tap raw emotion when those characters are under attack and forced to reveal what lies beneath their facades. They are interesting all the time.

And director Celeste Cosentino manages to keep the action in this play’s meandering interrogation moving ever forward, building the tension along the way.

While the take-away from this play is a bit underwhelming, watching this production of it is certainly well worth your while.