A Chance of Lightning is very good at what it is: an experiment.

        With Lightning, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival produces its first commissioned play, with local playwright Joe McDonough writing specifically for company members.

        The Festival's commitment to developing new work is bold and admirable. The same can be said about Lightning, which is the darkest of comedies.

        The action takes place in a barn on a remote farm somewhere outside of Cincinnati, which looks like it's been struck by lightning, or maybe a small missile.

        Send your deepest regards to technical director Todd Edwards who has managed (at last!) to platform the stage 18 inches, making it possible for everybody to see everything no matter where you're sitting.

        What you see in Lightning, along with bales of hay, are two kidnap victims who have been left conveniently ungagged. Dr. Benjamin Kaufmann (Jeremy Dubin in a nicely nuanced performance of rage, terror and smart-mouth) has developed a deadly virus that everybody wants. Iona (Amy Hutchins) is unfortunately his date. It's their first date. When she panics, she hums. She panics.

        Their crew of captors is motley if menacing. First on the scene is druggie Jimmy (an in-your-face Jeff Groh), who has a lot of hate, a gun and a careless trigger finger. Next comes Angel (Anne E. Schilling, who has no feeling for her uneducated, dirt-poor character).

        Jimmy and Angel used to reach for the American Dream by robbing convenience stores. Then they hooked up with amiable psychopath Zachary (a properly chilling Nick Rose) who has promised them God. Now Angel sees Jesus in cereal bowls and puffs of cigarette smoke.

        Giles Davies rounds out their little gang as stuttering, slightly slow Randy.

        Mr. McDonough does a lot of things right in Lightning. He, director Jasson Minadakis and the company maintain a pervading sense of menace. That's even as Ben and Iona carry on a moderately lunatic dialogue and all manner of loony twists and turns are introduced, including the second-act arrival of a doofus FBI agent (Brian Isaac Phillips, who embraces his inner-bozo).

        There are things that don't work. Many lines of dialogue could be sharpened; the characters are, for the most part, stock; you can see the ending coming a mile away.

        Lightning also suffers from James Bond Syndrome. How come the psychopathic criminal mastermind never just pulls a trigger and kills inconvenient hostages?

        Dull moments do not count among Lightning's flaws. It zips along as Mr. McDonough tries this and that and shows off cast members' strengths to nice effect.

        The festival already has received funding for a second commission next year. Lightning points the way for what we can hope will be an exciting, long-term venture.

        A Chance of Lightning, through June 24, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, 719 Race St., 381-2273.

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