“Lowcountry” at Atlantic Theater Company (Photo: Ahron R. Foster)

Abby Rosebrock’s Lowcountry unfolds on the kind of sultry South Carolina night where the air practically boils and a soundtrack of skeeters buzz in the mist. I saw the play on such a night in New York City, when the humidity failed to break even after the sun went down. Yet the temperature of this world premiere production at the Atlantic Theater Company only occasionally rises above a simmer.

As a playwright, Rosebrock seems fascinated by disgraced teachers — her Blue Ridge, seen at the Atlantic in 2019, concerned a disgraced English educator who perhaps identified a bit too closely with Blanche DuBois. Lowcountry operates under the specter of a more serious infraction, one that landed David (Babak Tafti) under house arrest and on an official registry. The pall injects a palpable edge into David’s interactions with the other two characters: Paul (Keith Kupferer), a wealthy man helping him rebuild his life for potentially nefarious reasons, and Tally (Jodi Balfour), a possible romantic partner who’s just returned home after a disappointing stab at an acting career.

The script shows how a transgression like the one David committed — which I won’t reveal here, but which should be obvious to most viewers within minutes — carries a ruinous cost, both professionally and personally. His actions have isolated him almost entirely, sequestering him in a sterile, white-walled apartment he can barely afford. (The set design is by Arnulfo Maldonado.) Rosebrock also makes the point that David, while adopted as a baby, was born overseas; his birthplace and foreign look, pointed out by the thickly accented Paul in the first scene, further mark his difference in the community where he’s lived all his life.

Of course, we learn that everyone else in David’s orbit is equally troubled – perhaps none more than Tally, about whom revelations trickle out steadily during the long, awkward first date that makes up the bulk of the play. Rosebrock keeps much of the action at a slow burn, but the audience should sense something off-kilter in her right away. The action, and our engagement in it, hinges on a sense of dangerous tension beneath the surface of Tally and David’s meeting, with potential consequences almost as shocking as what earned David his house arrest.

Under Jo Bonney’s direction, though, the action trods along at a rather staid pace. Barbour and Tafti are both talented performers, and occasionally you feel a menacing spark between them, but they more often seem to be going through the paces, waiting for the next shoe to drop in the action. Although the surprises in Rosebrock’s script feel earned, they don’t feel…well…particularly surprising. With most of the production pitched to such a low flame, things just seem to happen, with the effort to move onto the next plot point.

Several physical aspects strike the right tone. Maldonado’s scenic design feels suffocatingly anonymous, especially under Heather Gilbert’s harshly unforgiving lighting. The costumes by Sarah Laux telegraph character traits well, and John Gromada’s sound design is intimate and suggestive. Though he has the smallest role of the cast, Kupferer is distinct and memorable, finding the right malevolent undertones for the seemingly good-natured Paul.

Lowcountry makes compelling points about how actions, and interactions, shape the trajectory of our lives. I’d love to see it again, in a production with a touch more sizzle.