“A Bright New Boise,” by Samuel D. Hunter, is the first offering of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s 2011-2012 season, one that Woolly Mammoth claims will explore the question: “Does our civilization have an expiration date?” That’s a lofty goal for a theater, or any institution, for that matter. Unfortunately, “A Bright New Boise” doesn’t ultimately analyze that question. More a collection of character studies of five people who are trapped in the same location than a well-constructed play, “Boise” takes place in two areas. The first is the break room of a big-box craft store, a wasteland of concrete block walls, fluorescent lighting and a huge television set that runs a continuous loop of invasive medical procedures. The second area is the store’s parking lot.

The two main characters are Will (Michael Russotto), a 43-year-old man who has just gotten a job in the store, and Alex (Joshua Morgan), a young man who writes poetry and creates performance art and just happens to be Will’s son. After a crisis related to a church he was involved with in another city and a scandal that involved the death of a young boy, Will has come to Boise looking for meaning and has sought out the son he never knew.