Tricky call: Anatolia Speaks is both genuinely moving and unfortunately manipulative. Kenneth Brown’s script starts with a strong set-up: Anatolia, a Bosnian immigrant, is presenting a project to her ESL class. Anatolia’s optimism about her daily struggle, living without a fridge and working at Superstore, starts to accumulate shadows in the form of details about her traumatic past. Nothing speaks to the reality of war as powerfully as a personal account does and solo performer Candice Fiorentino delivers the text with affecting simplicity. Brown gilds the lily though, threading in a mushy flirtation with a Canadian soldier, writing about angels, and using the song “You Are My Sunshine” shamelessly. If Brown had been more rigorous, his story would have gone deeper.

At Studio 1398 on September 9 (9:30 p.m.), 12 (10:25 p.m.), and 14 (6:10 p.m.)