Trouble comes to town in the set of broad shoulders and chiseled abs.

“Picnic,” a play by William Inge, directed by Don Brady and presented by the Department of Drama and Speech, is a story of the struggles and oppression of life in a small town.

“Trouble” is Hal Carter (Justin Moore, drama and advertising junior), a muscled drifter who arrives in “town” – Independence, Kansas – early one morning.

He takes up doing odd jobs for Mrs. Helen Potts (Alejandra Cejudo, drama junior), who shares a backyard with Flo Owens (Daiva Olson, drama sopohmore) and her two daughters, Madge and Millie.

Eighteen-year-old Madge (Gwenevere Sisco, drama sophomore) is “the pretty one,” according to Millie, and Millie (Tammie Merheb, drama and communications junior) is the smart one, set to receive a full college scholarship.

Mrs. Potts offers to wash Hal’s shirt, so the Owens women are met with a half-naked young man when they step outside in the morning.

The bare-chested young man unwittingly becomes a catalyst for change for the characters in the play.

Rosemary Sydney (Kerry Cahill, drama junior), who boards with the Owens, is desperate to escape.

She’s a middle aged schoolteacher bored with the chatter of her fellow spinster schoolteachers (Whitney Bryan, drama and communications freshman, Lydia Anne Burgess, drama and communications freshman, Holly Cassard, drama and communications freshman, and Coby Nathanson, drama and communications junior).

She too, is startled by the presence of Hal.

Mrs. Potts, who lives with and tends for her mother whom the audience only meets vocally, seems energized by Hal’s presence and enthralled by his walking around in his snakeskin cowboy boots.

“He clomped through the tiny rooms like he was still in the great outdoors. …everything he did reminded me that there was a man in the house, and it seemed good,” Mrs. Potts says of Hal.

Madge is going steady with Alan Seymour (Joe Fredo, English writing sophomore), a college student home for summer vacation.

Though her mother regales her with stories of the wonderful life she can have as “Mrs. Seymour,” Madge stares longingly off into the distance at the whistle of a passing train.

“I always wonder, maybe some wonderful person is getting off here, just by accident, and he’ll come into the dime store for something and see me behind the counter,” Madge says.

On the realistic set of a front porch, Madge and 5Millie bicker throughout the play about their lots in life.

Millie is jealous of Madge’s beauty, but Madge laments, “What good is it to be pretty?”

The characters are readying themselves to go on the yearly Labor Day picnic in the evening.

Hal clumps about between the rose trellises of the Potts’ house and the front porch of the Owens’, flirting with the women.

Only Flo shows hesitation when she speaks to him, as if she can foretell the disaster this man will bring to her family and friends.

The set for “Picnic” is beautifully crafted.

Against one wall is the complete back of a house, with a porch, two screen doors and windows.

On the opposite wall is another back of a house, with a set of stairs set into the wall and rose trellises climbing the yellow-painted side.

Between the two houses sits a stump surrounded by weeds, which becomes a seat for each cast member at one time during the play.

The actors seem like they were made for their roles, each portraying the desperation and desire of their characters and personalities.

Sisco as Madge, delicate and doubtful.

Fredo as Alan, besotted and betrayed.

Cahill as Rosemary, despondent and yearning.

Each becomes his or her character in order to portray to the audience what it means to be trapped in a role you were born into, unable to fight your desires or to act upon them without dire consequences.

After all, “The heart overtakes the mind; there is no reason.”

This play is good, a must-see. Not only does it have a fantastic set and excellent acting, “Picnic” grabs your heart with sorrowful characters and a story line that any romantic can identify with, leaving you thoughtful and a little sad.

“Picnic” shows again this weekend, April 10, 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in Loyola’s Lower Depths Theater.

“I always liked you, Alan,” Millie (Tammie Merheb) says to Alan (Joe Fredo). Alan has everything that Millie’s family could ever want and need. Millie, besotted herself, doesn’t understand why her sister is hesitant about marrying Alan. (Loyola)