by Hugh Hunter

How many of us live the proverbial moral life? Most of us like to imagine we do, but how often does this presumption face a serious challenge? Welcome to Stagecrafters and their season-opening show, “Lobby Hero,” by Kenneth Lonergan, a provocative play in which people find themselves locked into a morally compromising situation.

Under director Patrick Martin, four able actors keep you guessing all night, telling the truth, dodging the truth or just plain lying. Making his shining Stagecrafters debut, Harrison Rothbaum plays bumbling Jeff, a security guard who works the graveyard shift at a Manhattan apartment complex. Jeff is an unlikely hero, a confused and drifting young man who can only nourish nebulous dreams until the troubled lives of other people force him to act.

At first, Jeff deals with his moralizing boss, Captain William, played by stern, humorless Malik Abdul-Khaaliq. The Captain prides himself on his probity and discipline, always critical of Jeff’s aimlessness. But later, in opposition to his stated beliefs, William’s family implores him to bail out his criminal brother with a phony alibi. In desperation, Captain William takes derided Jeff into his confidence.

The other players in this well-conceived drama are a pair of cops. Matthew Rydzewski is bone-chilling as senior officer, Bill, a man so corrupt he is funny. His world is a spider’s web of crooked activities, which he lies about by invoking concepts of duty and honor. Most notably, he threatens to ruin the police career of attractive rookie officer, Dawn (Ismaela Stewart), unless she is “nice” to him.

In his state of passive entrapment, hero Jeff becomes privy to all sorts of creepy secrets. The clever set design of Marie Laster helps flesh out his predicament. Captain William and the officers are in steady motion, using the audience wall aisles to rush on and off stage. But Jeff is always stuck in place. A garden side entrance pinches the lobby into an even tighter space, creating the sense that Jeff is locked in a cage.

This is a show in which you truly come to know the characters by the actions they take. Though the situation is extreme, you easily identify with the moral struggles of Jeff, William and Dawn. Simple, homespun truisms leap into your mind, like “Talk is cheap” and “Action speaks louder than words.”

“Lobby Hero” had a successful Broadway run in 2001, was nominated for the prestigious Drama Desk Award and speaks profoundly to our universal condition in which the moral life is, at best, a difficult possibility. You ask yourself what you would do if you were in these people’s shoes. Would you lie to save a villainous brother, let the guilty go free so as not to betray the confidence of a friend, or compromise yourself in order to keep your job?

Stagecrafters is located at 8130 Germantown Ave. “Lobby Hero” will run through Sept. 28. Tickets are available by calling 215-247-8881.