Once a theater company has been around for a long time, it's hard to remember that it started out as someone's innovative, hope-filled -- some might say crazy -- dream. It's a daunting endeavor, and the challenges, from securing funding to building an audience, are extreme.

Yet, in 2007, Virginia Wall Gruenert (artistic director) and her husband, Hans H. Gruenert (managing director), founded Off the Wall Productions in Washington, Pa., which has no other professional theater company. Off the Wall already has four productions under its belt, including Virginia Gruenert's one-woman show, "Shaken & Stirred," which launched the company.

Many young companies would envy the fact that Off the Wall already has its own building, a former Moose Lodge on commercial North Main Street. The Gruenerts undertook a hefty renovation, installing a stage, control booth and risers for seating, among other theater necessities.

For now, a major concern is getting people to the theater, so, for this young company, show selection is key. Scheduled for March 2009 is Paula Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive." Also upcoming are plays by David Lindsay-Abaire ("Kimberly Akimbo") and John Patrick Shanley ("Four Dogs and a Bone").

Currently, the company is tackling the challenge of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," which made the torturously married couple Martha and George so famous through performances by Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill (original Broadway production), Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (film), and Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin (2005 Broadway revival).

Those are big shoes to fill, and I wanted to see Off the Wall succeed. It just doesn't have the resources to do it.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" requires extremely sophisticated acting, with layer upon layer peeled from the characters as the three-hour, three-act play progresses. Martha, the daughter of the president of a small New England college, is married to George, a once-promising now defeated history professor. The two spend the night tearing at each other in a brutal display of hate, love and desperation. They drag the young Nick and Honey into their hell as witnesses, participants and unwilling playmates in their depraved, yet unnervingly familiar party games, like Humiliate the Host and Get the Guests.

All four actors fail to achieve the nuanced performances. What should be disturbing and uncomfortable is played so much at one level it becomes boring. Virginia Wall Gruenert too often seems to be posturing. There's nothing to indicate the stakes are as high as they are for Martha. Instead of vulnerable, Gruenert is coy. Instead of vicious, she's petulant.

Scott Sortman's mumbling George relates to no one on stage, least of all to Martha. There's no sense of loss, no anger, no fear. His monologues feel more like bedtime stories than cunning games.

Chris Bondi and Jessica D'Arcy are forgettable as Nick and Honey, not that they're the best roles. Played well, Nick can be vicious under his golden-boy facade, but Bondi remains lackluster throughout. D'Arcy doesn't bring much to Honey besides an outrageously phony laugh that grates like fingernails on chalkboard.

Director Michael E. Moats drops the ball again and again with this clunky production. There's no sense of timing whatsoever. Albee's violent poetry is swallowed, muffled and trodden over. Actors step on each other's lines, drop and restart sentences and leave pools of silence in what should be fiery dialogue.

You still have to root for Off the Wall, biting off this big of a mouthful so early in the game. I suppose there's something to be said for failing with a bang rather than succeeding with a whisper, but on its next go-round, I can't help but wish it a little quiet success.