Director Christopher Fidram doesn’t believe someone needs to have gone through rehab to relate to the characters in Duncan Macmillan’s “People, Places & Things.”

Macmillan’s acclaimed play, which opens Friday for a two-weekend run in Youngstown Playhouse’s Moyer Room, tells the story of an actor who checks into a rehab facility after a mishap at work.

“Emma is very intelligent, very clever, and she knows, ‘Oh, I just have to go there for the 30 days, tell them what they want to hear, and then I’ll get my certificate and go on,'” Fidram said. “But once she gets there, she realizes that it’s not so easy as she thought it was going to be, because the people there are experts. They see through her right away, they see through all those manipulations.

“One counselor who works (there) says, ‘We’re all here for the same reason. We’re all very good at lying, but we’re also very good at spotting liars.’ She kind of finds herself amongst this group of strangers, and it’s almost like they know more about her than she knows about herself, which really makes her feel extremely uncomfortable, because we all want to believe we’re so unique and there’s nobody else like us. What she finds is that she has more in common with these residents than she is comfortable admitting.”

“People, Places & Things” opened in London in 2015 and made its New York debut two years later. It’s a play Fidram has been interested in directing for a while, but the desire intensified this year.

“In 2025 I couldn’t get the show out of my mind, because no other play reflects, in my opinion, what it feels like to be alive today, right now,” he said. “It’s no secret we see people who are struggling to cope in a world that seems to not make any sense. And I’ve noticed, even among my friends and family, that need to detach, to isolate, to withdraw, because things get so exhausting. What this play is about is the coping strategies that we use just to get through our day.”

Fidram said he was guilty of hibernating himself, and the opportunity to direct it was the thing that got him off the couch metaphorically and literally.

There was no guarantee the Playhouse could do it. In addition to getting the licensing rights, theaters need the playwright’s permission as well, and Fidram said it appeared that very few non-professional theaters had been granted the rights to stage it. He’s not sure what swayed Macmillan, but he leaned into the Playhouse’s 100-year history and its experienced design team in the application.

Fidram did the set and sound design with Johnny Pecano. Lighting design is by Ellen Licitra, Spike Kremm is stage manager, and Denise and Jenna Cintavey handled props.

Brandy Johanntges plays Emma, a role that won Denise Gough Critics’ Circle and Lawrence Olivier awards in London and a Drama Desk nomination in New York.

“Brandy is so incredibly gifted,” Fidram said. “She was excited about taking it on, and she’s got this incredible range. What really fascinated me was her willingness to just try everything, to be creative, to go full out. When you’ve got an actor like that that you’re working with, you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m as excited as the audience to see who this character is going to be.’

“It’s very challenging, because Emma carries the play, and also because she is what I refer to as an unreliable protagonist, meaning that we meet her at her worst, and we want to root for her, but it’s hard to tell, ‘Is she lying to us? Is she manipulating us?'”

The rest of the cast includes Rob Whiting, Richard Smiley, Steven Fraley, Molly Galano, Becky McConnell, Rachel Franek, Peter Sherman, Lisa Torrence, Eric McCrea, Trish Terlesky, Maria Ceraolo, Donovan Rubante, Amy Banks, Rachel Clifford and Lindie Schwarten.

Fidram was impressed by the turnout at auditions and only has worked with four of the actors before.

“It’s one of those plays where a lot of people haven’t heard of it, but the people who have heard of it love it.”

If you go …

WHAT: “People, Places & Things”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 24

WHERE: Moyer Room, Youngstown Playhouse, 600 Playhouse Lane, Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $17 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.