Review: Three ‘Girls’ on heroic journeys have us in a chokehold in new Ten Thousand Things play

If one’s best tool is a sword, then every problem can seem like an enemy to be skewered and slashed.

Pumped fighter Albienne recognizes the limits of her lens before it’s too late in “This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing.”

Finegan Kruckemeyer’s 2011 play is getting a physically raucous production by director Markell Kiefer for Ten Thousand Things Theater. Also choreographed with descriptive intensity by Jim Lichtscheidl, better known for his onstage wit, this “Girl” is grabby, gabby and immediate. And its strong performances overcompensate for the fact that the company’s DIY-style staging minimizes design and other traditional theater elements.

“Girl” is a modern fable teeming with big philosophical questions and the classic hero’s narrative. If you have been abandoned by your parent in a forest, is that a tragedy or an opportunity?

After their widowed father has had a falling out with their stepmother (Marisa Tejeda), preadolescent triplets Albienne (Joy Dolo), Beatrix (Maggie Chestovich) and Carmen (Katie Bradley) are taken to the woods.

Before bidding them adieu, their dad (Tyson Forbes) calls out essential traits in each child, as if to mark the innate strengths they already have to carry them through life.

He tells eldest daughter Albienne, who has big appetites and loves cakes, to “Taste every experience in this world.” He wants sun-lover Beatrix to “Meet every person in this world” and impart her warmth to them. And to empath Carmen, who routinely carries the weight of the world on her shoulders to her own detriment, he says: “Find yourself.”

While Albienne and Beatrix set off on adventures, Carmen stays put, building her home where she landed.

Ten Thousand Things is known for its less-is-more philosophy, proudly investing its resources on talent instead of sets, lighting and costumes. (Joel Sass does the set/props and Sarah Bahr created the colorful costumes, all metaphoric, for “Girl.”)

This veteran ensemble proves how well that approach works for this itinerant company. Dolo is virtuosic as Albienne, delivering with power and jocularity. Her sense of play and improvisation, including whispered asides to audience members, makes plain the conspiratorial nature of this show and theater in general. She’s not just playing a character. Dolo also sees us and we’re all together in a world of our imaginative making.

With openness and honesty, Chestovich similarly invites us into Beatrix’s heart, a place pulsing with love for all but also shadowed by her own yearnings. Chestovich whips us fiercely into her longings and sweeps us along.

It’s a testament to Bradley’s skill that she plays Carmen in an almost contradictory manner that’s still logical. The character’s energy is quiet and deadpan, and Bradley interprets her as being matter-of-fact without affect. That unadorned approach invites a deep listening that heightens the profundity of her example and insights.

Forbes has the ability to be large and scary like a forest creature but also to disappear like the wind. He uses that versatility exquisitely in a battery of ensemble parts in “Girl.” And he plays the guitar as well, joyfully strumming to be in harmony and to add to the mood-setting aural accompaniment by flutist Julie Johnson and Tejeda, who also plays bass.

For her part, Tejeda, who memorably depicted the title character of “Emilia” at Ten Thousand Things, shows that she’s as formidable and inventive as the experienced hands she performs alongside. As she switches between old and young, meek and powerful characters, we are reminded of the strength of this nimble ensemble. Their chokehold on the audience makes this robust “Girl” a rollickingly beautiful ride.

When & where: Various times and places through March 16.

Tickets: $40 or pay-as-you-can. 612-203-9502 or tenthousandthings.org.