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Craig Lucas' Prayer for My Enemy, on one level, is a gay romance. Another aspect of this bittersweet drama is political, examining how a young man's going off to war affects his family. This all dovetails into the play's overarching theme about how long-simmering rage and resentments drive people to violence, sometimes incomprehensibly. Lucas' various plots may sound like a lot for a 90-minute drama, but while "Enemy" may feel overstuffed, in director Bartlett Sher's taut staging that some of New York's finest actors, the play is never anything less than a captivating stew of ideas and emotions.

Focusing on Billy (Jonathan Groff), his parents Austin (Skipp Sudduth) and Karen (Michele Pawk) and his sister Marianne (Cassie Beck), "Enemy" begins just a few days before Billy, a reservist, is scheduled to ship out to Iraq. Coincidentally, Tad (Zachary Booth), a childhood friend of Billy's, arrives back in town on the day of Billy's going away party, which allows the two young men to reminisce about their just-pubescent love affair - something to do until they "get girls" Tad said at the time. At the party, Marianne finally realizes that she might have missed something in her brother's friend, and a romance develops between her and Tad in short order.

Karen (a cipher of a character imbued with incandescent warmth by Pawk) seems pleased by this development in her daughter's life and supportive of her son's military service. Austin (played with sensitivity by Sudduth), a recovering alcoholic who has yet to find the serenity attendant on so many people "in program," blusters and bullies his family, particularly after blowing up about his beloved Yankees' inability to beat their arch rivals, the Red Sox. Austin, who is bipolar, believes that his disease contributed to his drinking problem. He also feels guilty that his gene pool might have contributed to Marianne's six-year-old son's autism, which has forced the young woman to institutionalize the boy. Austin's homophobic treatment of Billy, who has yet to come out to anyone including himself, seems to stem from all of the above and just sheer lunkishness.

What might be most incredible about "Enemy" is how the story of this family's ups-and-downs both before and after Billy's deployment, dovetails with the story of another character, Dolores (Victoria Clark), a neurotic native of the town who's just returned to care for her elderly mother. Although Dolores, an unhappy secretary engaged to a very controlling therapist, extols her joy about being home and back within the peace and tranquility of her rural hometown, she carries every resentment ever incurred from her life in Manhattan. Clark brings a forced chipperness to her performance that is almost frightening, and makes Dolores' frequent trips to a rolling barcart (just one of the many small pieces of furniture that are brought onto John McDermott's sleekly spare scenic design) achingly pathetic.

There's an almost unbearable weight to the emotional baggage that Dolores alone carries, and when that is combined with the emotional baggage of Billy's family and Tad, , "Enemy," which also carries the burden of some pretty heavy metaphors, palpably groans under the pressure. Yet, Clark's performance, and the three sparkling and nuanced turns from Groff, Beck and Booth lighten the load of the piece immeasurably. Theatergoers come to care about these characters, and to a lesser extent Austin and Karen, with each twist and turn of Lucas' plot, no matter how strained. On many levels, "Enemy" feels as if it might want to be expanded. The shorthand in which it has been penned seems too terse for such a rich mix of emotions and ideas.

---- Andy Propst

Prayer for My Enemy continues through December 23 at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street). Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2:30 and 8pm and Sunday at 2:30 and 7:30pm. Tickets are $65.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-279-4200 or by visiting www.TicketCentral.com. Further information is available online at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org