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In his director's notes for the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre production of August Wilson's "Two Trains Running," Mark Clayton Southers begins by saying that it will resonate differently with each person.

It's set in a place and time of great transition -- a diner in the Hill District in the late '60s.

Whether you experienced these things firsthand or from a distance, your reactions may well be different.

You may process it as allegory, metaphor or historical narrative.

But, the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre production guarantees that your experience will be vivid and profound.

Very little happens on the surface of "Two Trains Running." People come to Memphis Lee's diner. They sit, drink coffee, gossip, reminisce, run numbers, hatch plans that may be realistic, deluded or criminal, flirt and squabble.

It's not unlike being on a station platform or inside the train car. You may appear to be sitting still. But you're really in transit.

Whether it's Wali Jamal's numbers-running and womanizing Wolf, Lonzo Green's obsessed and addled Hambone or Jonathan Berry's ex-con Sterling at the crossroads, we encounter them all in mid-journey. Only Sharnece Thomas's Risa seems to have arrived at a destination. Wilson's rich language and storytelling ability make it a pleasure to sit and listen while the characters spin tales.

Thanks to Souther's direction and the actors' ability, you can become so caught up in the narrative that the two hours and 45 minutes running time feels much shorter.

Pay attention, though. Each of those stories is leading somewhere and transmitting a larger picture.

Wilson was also a master of creating characters who are singular, richly drawn individuals, each of whom provide a distinct point of view.

Southers and his cast of seven richly endow these characters with the small gestures, cadences and quirks that make them real and three-dimensional people.

For the production, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre has imported Broadway actor Anthony Chisholm to play diner owner Memphis Lee. A veteran of multiple productions of Wilson's plays, Chisholm brings a force and reality to Memphis.

But it's Sala Udin, the former city councilman and occasional actor, who most often draws our interest, attention and affection as Holloway, the laid-back elder who's filled with low-key, sensible observations and advice as well as a wealth of local lore and history.

Eugene Lee also intrigues our interest with his controlled and considered performance as West, the Hill District funeral director who is surrounded by an air of mystery and speculation.

The production is supported with the usual careful attention to scenic, costume, lighting and sound details that has become an expected part of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre production.

The company may be small -- in addition to directing the play Southers serves as artistic director, producer, scenic designer, company photographer and a member of the construction crew. But the work is dedicated, thoughtful and neatly achieved.

The result is a satisfying evening of theater that honors Wilson's work.

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