Patrick James Lynch (in the Chargers helmet) as Gordo and Matthew Dellapina as Chaz in Carly Mansch’s All Hail Hurricane Gordo at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Copyrighted photo by Harlan Taylor | Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Carly Mensch’s All Hail Hurricane Gordo raises concerns before the show even starts.

In a filthy living room, a greasy-haired guy plays Nerf basketball, calling a little play by play for himself and whooping it up when he gets a basket. Eventually, his nerdy housemate comes in and they face off in an aggressive game in which the fellow with bad hair emerges victorious.

It’s not that the intro isn’t fun. It’s just that it raises the question of whether this is just the latest hipster, slacker show at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. That’s not a blanket slam. Just last year, Carlos Murillo’s dark play or stories for boys was a youth-oriented effort that emerged as the best of the fest. But Actors Theatre of Louisville has picked some clunkers in pursuit of younger audiences such as Alexandra Cunningham’s 2000 effort No. 11: Blue and White — plays which seem to have something to say, but in reality say little except for using in lingo that will be so last year by the time the next Humana rolls around.

Gordo leaves you wondering if this one will fall into the latter category for a while, but also lays out enough mysteries to keep you involved long enough to find out it is actually an excellent piece of theater from a clear and compelling young voice.

Those mysteries include, why does Chaz have all of these phone books piled up around his desk?

Why does Gordon have outbursts where he slams his head into the wall?

What exactly happened here?

The two are adult brothers living on their own. Gordon clearly has issues and limitations, and though Chaz seems more together, it appears he definitely has his issues to. A new young roommate, India, helps bring some of these problems to the surface and to a semblance of resolution.

Casting in the top roles really helps draw us in. Patrick James Lynch has the manic energy of the spastic Gordon, and though he would  clearly be tough to live with,  we see the sweetness and lost child residing beneath that facade. That same child exists in Matthew Dellapina’s Chaz, though with a job, a schedule, and even some volunteer work, he appears more together. Whatever happened to them, we know early on, it must have happened when they were young to arrest certain aspects of their development.

The play leaves us thinking about loss and our responsibilities to our loved ones and how they may conflict with our responsibilities to ourselves. And it leaves us thinking about brotherly love, which will always be hip, no matter what generation you hail from.