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Starring Cassandra Bissell and Taylor Miller. Directed by Sandy Shinner. Part of the 29th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Continues through April 3. For tickets or more info, call 584-1205 or visit www.ActorsTheatre.org.

The sixth play to debut at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival, Kathleen Tolan’s “Memory House” is an examination of the extraordinary bond, yet undeniably vexing relationship, between mother and daughter. It is heartfelt and realistic, but unfortunately, not memorable.

Cassandra Bissel and Taylor Miller in “Memory House,” part of Actors Theatre’s Humana Festival. (photo by harlan taylor)

The Victor Jory Theatre is a cozy space, and it suits the intimate nature of “Memory House,” which is firmly rooted in the type of theater commonly known as slice-of-life. Playwrights working in this vein aren’t primarily concerned with eliciting political or social change, or radically altering audience mindsets. Instead, the focus is on a sort of Everyman situation: The audience feels as if it’s peeking into a home that could be right down the street, watching familiar people in familiar predicaments. In “Memory House,” Tolan actually unfolds the drama in real time, lending an even more authentic bent to the action.

Set in New York City on New Year’s Eve, “Memory House” follows an hour and a half in the lives of Katia (Cassandra Bissell) and her mother Maggie (Taylor Miller). Katia is struggling to finish a college application essay that requires her to dredge up memories she resents not having, and Maggie is working to suppress the ache of loneliness that grows as Katia comes closer to leaving the nest. The requisite frustration of the mother-daughter relationship is further complicated by the fact that Katia was adopted and brought from Russia when she was just a few years old. As Katia’s deadline looms (she must postmark the application by midnight), Maggie starts a domestic task she’s never undertaken, baking a pie. Both characters are searching for their places in the world — Katia is desperate for answers that will help her begin the process of defining who she is; Maggie’s confronted with the difficult task of rediscovering herself after years of abandoning all roles but that of “mother.”

Bissell and Miller play their characters well; I was drawn to Miller’s bohemian, quirky portrayal of a mother, and at turns annoyed and sympathetic toward Bissell’s angst-ridden teen on the brink of autonomy. Yet something essential is missing in the script. The actresses’ characterizations are thorough enough, but there’s no real sense of urgency or, frankly, concern about the outcome of their presumably monumental argument. The play builds, but the question “to what?” is never answered satisfactorily. I even stole a glimpse at my playbill to see if another character was going to make an appearance in order to prompt a climax.

The timer announces Maggie’s pie is done (it’s actually baked right there onstage), and although it’s superficially a little messy, the familiar, tantalizing smell wafts over the audience. It’s an apt metaphor for the state of Maggie and Katia’s tender, imperfect relationship. However, the pie is the only indelible image of the play. The scent of fresh-baked pie may never be forgotten, but “Memory House” just doesn’t reach the same status.