Canadian Pastoral

Here’s a plot we’ve had enough of: A big city professional hauls off for the hinterlands, where he (or — a very slight possibility — she) is first shocked and then amused by the backward ways of the farm set. Soon, though, those farmers stop being galoots, and our book-learned hero gets his head straight, discovering that the simple ways are pure and, by implication, that his city life and cell phone and belief in evolution ain’t worth a cowpie. That story — familiar from maybe a third of the shows running at Kansas City’s professional theaters — serves as a helpful point of comparison for Michael Healey’s deft, amusing The Drawer Boy, tonight at 7 at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s Spencer Theatre (4949 Cherry, 816-235-2700).The tale of a Toronto actor holing up with farmers as research for a play about life in the country, The Drawer Boy might sound like American Heartland-style fluff. But this award-winning dramatic comedy has more than enough heart, brains and surprises to make you forget the clichés. And director Jeff Church is an able dreamer adept at finding truth in any material. Even better: no flinty out-of-towners have been hauled out here to make this one happen. This is the rare Rep show boasting nothing but local giants: Gary Holcombe, Gary Neal Johnson and talented young David Graham Jones star. Tickets cost $12 to $40.— Alan Scherstuhl

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: May 9. Continues through June 1, 2008