'Quiet Man Tales' an affectionate portrait of rural Ireland

Titles matter. Had co-writers and producers Frank Mahon and Milissa Pacelli called their new play "Green Rushes," it might have gone unnoticed except by fans of Irish writer Maurice Walsh, who published his 1935 collection of short stories under that title.

Calling their adaptation "The Quiet Man Tales," ensures Pacelli and Mahon, a former Cook County State's Attorney, much broader recognition, particularly among fans of the 1952 film starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, which was inspired by one of stories in Walsh's collection.

Wise move, since director Susan Felder's affectionate, production deserves to be seen.

A heartwarming portrait of 1920s rural Ireland, "The Quiet Man Tales" emerges as a series of interwoven vignettes centered around the strong-willed and (mostly) unfailingly decent inhabitants of a small, County Kerry burg. It's a quaint, if not totally cohesive show, underscored by Irish music (arrive early for a preshow sampling) and punctuated by gentle humor (the matchmaking and baby-naming scenes involving likable locals led by Roselle's own Robert Allan Smith are a hoot).

The play opens against the backdrop of the Irish War for Independence (1919-21). For all the rebels' passion, the play doesn't dwell on politics, which quickly takes a back seat to romance - make that several romances.

The central love story involves former expatriate pugilist and prodigal son Paddy Bawn Enright (Ron Rains, modestly noble and genuinely kind), who's in love with the feisty but ambivalent Ellen Roe O'Danaher (the always appealing Cassandra Bissell). Ellen is eager to marry, she's just not eager to marry Paddy, a match proposed by her opportunistic, self-interested brother Will (Bret Tuomi). Will wants Ellen out of the house so he can secure the hand (and land) of Joan Hyland (a stalwart, sympathetic Karen Janes Woditsch), whose father left her a large farm. To that end, Will marries Ellen to Paddy but he reneges on her dowry which the passive Paddy refuses to demand. Joan rejects Will for Sean (Scott Cummins), an IRA soldier whose cousin and fellow rebel Nuala (Woodstock's Regina Leslie) seduces a British agent named Henry (Eric Leonard) to uncover a traitor within the IRA's ranks. Nuala is the object of several men's affections, including Sean and his longtime friend and onetime comrade, Captain Archie MacDonald (Aaron Christensen), a Scotsman who prefers fishing to fighting and Nuala to every other woman.

Jeff Bauer's utilitarian set made up of low stone walls and wood plank piers, lighting designer Rita Pietraszek's pretty pastel backdrops and Lindsey Pate's tweedy, earth-colored costumes - crafted of stock as sturdy as the characters who wear them - help create quite charming snapshots. Unfortunately, they don't yet form a cohesive whole. Mahon and Pacelli don't burden their characters with a lot of back story and exposition. Instead, characters parse out their histories deliberately and subtly. And while that tends to perplex audience members initially as they try to distinguish Matt from Mickeen, it's also rather gratifying that the writers trust their audience is clever enough to catch on.