BUICKS

At the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway. Through March 30. Call SmartTix, (212) 206-1515.

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‘BUICKS” is a splendid dark comedy about a man who takes to the road after his life falls apart. Equal parts Raymond Carver and Sam Shepard, with a dash of surprising optimism, the play is written by Julian Sheppard (in his New York premiere) and directed, with quiet edge, by Brian Kulick.

The action centers on Bill (Norbert Leo Butz), a 26-year-old Buick dealer in Fresno, Calif., who’s running on empty.

His wife, Kathy (a sharp Olivia Birkelund), senses his failure to relate to her or any aspect of his life that matters, while his father – a retired Buick dealer – is grumpy and mean. Bill’s father does, however, idolize Bill’s son, who, like Bill’s daughter, cares only for soccer.

The only person who likes and respects Bill is his young secretary Naranja, an illegal alien from Mexico who wants him to help her get a green card.

The situation hits the fan when Kathy vanishes with the kids. Bill takes a Buick and a willing (if not entirely easy) Naranja to go looking for his family at Kathy’s father’s place in New Mexico.

It will be, Bill insists in wretched Spanish, an “aventuro.”

It is, if not in the way he intends.

In passages of wrenching despair, Bill pours out his situation and finds a way back to life.

Butz, last seen in “The Last Five Years,” is one of our finest actors. Here, he powerfully nails the man’s mix of hopelessness and hope.

Matching him is the striking Lucia Brawley as Naranja, who spies goodness in Bill.

She makes, though, a final point: the Spanish word for “adventure” is “aventura.” A Ventura, indeed.

It all makes a felicitous New York debut for an eloquent playwright.