The intimacy of Bug makes the revival of Tracy Lett’s play moving and powerful. Waitress Agnes White (Carrie Coon) lives in a seedy Oklahoma motel. Except for a certain amount of clutter, there’s little to show that someone is living there permanently. Her abusive ex-husband was just released early from prison and keeps calling her. Her six year old inexplicably went missing from a grocery store ten years earlier. Agnes lives a sad life with a dead-end future.

When her lesbian friend R.C. (Jennifer Engstrom) introduces her to a stranger, Peter Evans ( excellent Namir Smallwood), Agnes bonds with him immediately, almost too quickly. He is so gentle and like a lost child that she feels a need to take care of him. When she learns he has nowhere to sleep, she invites him to stay over.

We like Peter too. He is well-read and knowledgeable. He is also gentle and gives no reason for Agnes to feel threatened. Even when Agnes’s ex -husband shows up, the situation doesn’t feel tense.

A Gulf War veteran, Peter may be AWOL. Yet as his story unfolds, there’s increasing reason for alarm about Agnes’ safety. Yet Agnes isn’t concerned; instead she recognizes something in him. Perhaps she needs to take care of him and feels no danger; they are two lonely people, misfits who are detached and estranged.

Peter claims that the military experimented on him which explains his furtive behavior and his claims that ‘they’ are looking for him. Peter is paranoid, yet initially believable and likable. When he cites the Tuskegee experiments, the reference makes his tale feel credible.

The relationship between Agnes and Peter deepens as they connect out of loneliness, despair and their growing fear and distrust of the world.

After one intimate night together, Peter awakens convinced there is an insect in the bed-maybe a bedbug, maybe an aphid. As they discuss it, Peter grows more emotional and overwrought. He begins tearing off the bedding and scrutinizing it. (Aha- could this be one meaning of the title?) Smallwood becomes frantic as his character’s paranoia increases. We become worried for Agnes whom we have grown to like. Besides, she deserves a break and it doesn’t seem like Peter will be the answer.

His panic accelerates as he examines, even begins mutilating his body searching for bugs. As his mental state deteriorates, the setting reflects their deepening alienation and fear and heightens the tension. Her room changes from antiseptic sparseness to the bug strips hanging from the ceiling the walls covered by aluminum.(Scenic design- Takeshi Kata)

As Peter becomes increasingly delusional ,Agnes clings to him even more passionately. Coon delivers an impressive and powerful monologue about her life, claiming he is the only thing that is hers. Coon gives a superb performance as she portrays a woman in agonizing pain who is clutching a lifeline.

The show premiered in 1996 but this is the first appearance on Broadway. Director David Comer draws the best from his actors as the action intensifies and accelerates. The ending, though not unexpected, still feels shocking.

Upon entering the theater, we were instructed to place our phones in locked bags to ensure the privacy of the performers, who shed their inhibitions as well as their clothes. By the end, the actors must be exhausted by their emotions and the intense ending. I know I was.