We find many kinds of “nice” in Nice People, a new comedy-drama by Imago Theatre co-founder Carol Triffle. There’s performative niceness and a request that one character explain (nicely) that they are, in fact, not a threat (nice). Eventually, someone even earns the sought-after title of “nice girl.” (Must be nice.)

This is Triffle’s 20th original work made for Imago and she directed and designed the set. It’s also her sixth time working with Ann Sorce, and Trifle describes their collaboration as “the kind of relationship where we often skip discussing what needs to be portrayed and jump right into a coded direction.”

Nice People satirizes the idea within its own name through humor, original songs, and thickly applied vaudeville slapstick. It’s centered around a conflict between two elderly white sisters: the reasonable, enabling Rosie (Laura Loy) and the racist, suspicious Frances (Anne Sorce). From the beginning, they’re in a quagmire as they contend with whether or not Frances should move into an assisted living facility.

When a Mexican woman, Rita (Lesley Arcila), opens a nearby food cart, Frances fixates on her as a target for paranoia and hostility. Rosie seizes on this as a teachable moment. Rita, blissfully unaware, tries to make friends.

Triffle’s script tries to play ideas like Rita’s bid for new customers (performative nice) against Rosie’s thoughtlessness and enabling actions. She invites Rita over, and asks her to (nicely) explain that she’s not interested in robbing Frances. Rita becomes frightened at the mere mention of police—hinting at a traumatic past and fear of being deported. 

The premise of Rosie’s request is played for laughs, but there will be those who see this as a reasonable thing to say. Can’t people of color just nicely explain that racist delusions are wrong—without hurting feelings?

Ultimately, it’s Triffle’s script that seems to be trying to change people’s minds without hurting their feelings. The work takes great pains to humanize Frances, and her struggles with declining autonomy turn into a greater vehicle for physical comedy featuring her wheelchair. We did question if the message can sink in with the slapstick humor dialed up as high as it is. It’s not clear, for instance, whether Frances’ paranoia is clinical or a character flaw.

Nice People is a play written for those in need of a little hand-holding. It’s for those politely powering through a relative’s late-in-life overt racism. It’s for the “Portland Nice.”

Though we found the premise of this production imperfect, Triffle put a lot of thought into Nice People. At times it feels naive, but it’s at least solidly entertaining, with situational irony gags such as arguing about answering the door without answering the door. The 105-minute show manages to fit in scenery chewing physical comedy and original songs depicting Rosie’s frustration not just with her beloved sister’s racism, but with Frances’ increasingly complex healthcare needs. The dialogue is funny when it’s given a beat to breathe. When it overlaps, it’s overwhelming.

Nice People doesn’t emphasize the obvious connection between both Frances and Rosie: They both fear detention and incarceration—Frances in a care facility and Rosie in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center. However, just in case there’s any doubt that this play is inspired by current events, it ends with the cast singing Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” as protest footage of federal agents deploying chemical weapons at Portland’s ICE facility plays, projected onto a sheet behind them. 

The Rosies and Ritas out there might not need this play to end so explicitly, but the Franceses of the world do. For them, Triffle extends a hand and hopes to change their minds.

Nice People runs at Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th, through April 19, $30, tickets and showtimes at imagotheatre.org.