Staging plays outdoors in Pittsburgh's summers have been a gamble for the traveling theater company Quantum, now marking its 20th season.

Those al fresco settings have often proved to be beyond its control -- unwelcome rock music from a passing Gateway Clipper and the regular nighttime blare of the city's sirens have drowned out dialogue, pesky insects have feasted on the captive audiences, sight lines have collided with unmovable objects, and rain has been known to fall.

Some places have worked out quite well, though, including the Hartwood Acres stables and Allegheny Cemetery.

None however, is more aptly suited to a production than the burned-out ruins of the old Frick Park Environmental Center, site of "The Howling Miller."

Adapted from the novel by Finn writer Arto Paasilinna by artistic director Karla Boos and director Peter Duschenes, the play demands a rustic, woodsy stage with room to roam.

Scenic designer Tony Ferrieri responded to this call of nature with a two-level set including a live tree rising out of the floor and easy access to the park's woods for the play's many mad dashes.

The remains of the center serve as the grist mill that newcomer Gunnar Huttunen takes over in a Lapland village full of suspicious country folk.

The casting of Tristan Farmer as the miller completes this well-matched combination of play, setting and actor.

The lanky Mr. Farmer is an acrobatic, tireless performer who leaps, flips, bikes and runs -- and runs and runs and runs -- through the more than two-hour, two-act production.

In his own words, Gunnar is "a little odd." The townspeople would say insane. As the title indicates, he likes to howl at night when the good folk are bedded down and want to sleep.

Gunnar is also likely to run through his repertoire of animal impressions, a kind of Frank Gorshin with fleas, but his birds and beasts scare the mostly inebriated men.

Not 4-H agent Sanelma, played by a wide-eyed Melinda Helfrich, whose goofy love for the crackpot miller and his free spirit proves his support and undoing.

Ms. Helfrich and Mr. Farmer are standouts in a largely workman-like cast of local actors in a variety of roles, including the creatures of the forest who peek out in their large papier-mache heads at the bad behavior of the humans.

Mr. Duschenes is a Canadian actor and director with experience in puppetry and children's theater. He lends a strong sense of physicality and timing to "The Howling Miller," pushing his cast through scene after scene of steady action.

And a lot of movement, rather than the thin script, is what saves "The Howling Miller" from a run-of-the-mill production.

Novelist Paasilinna's predicable tale of how outsiders can be persecuted for their differences is a familiar one that brings nothing challenging to the reader.

While Gunnar, the irritatingly simple and naive hero, symbolizes the "force of nature," he can only deal with civilization by running away from it.

That's the motif Mr. Duschenes overworks in the dragged-out second act. Hold the Keystone Kops chase scenes to a minimum and focus more on Mr. Paasilinna's broad satire of society that includes a funny scene in a sauna with the provincial governor wearing a towel and his official sash.

Everything physical works in "The Howling Miller" -- the music, sounds of the forest enhanced by Frick Park's crickets, the cartoonish props and even a live dog, albeit one with stage fright on opening night, to hunt the fugitive miller.

It's one of Quantum's most polished efforts, except for the too-simple play itself. If a few outbursts of profanity are cut, this show would be great fun as children's theater.

With a little trimming and more insect repellent, "The Howling Miller" can make a dark summer night in Frick Park come alive with entertainment.

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