Predictability is a problem for playwright Richard Greenberg. In “The Violet Hour,” playing at 1st Stage in McLean, he attacks the predictability of popular theater, of relationships, of parents and of careers. At the same time he deals with issues of choice, language, self-destruction and mankind’s desire to control its destiny. Amazingly, “The Violet Hour” remains a whimsical comedy.

The play tells the story of a would-be publisher, John Pace Seavering (David Winkler), who begins his career in 1919 by taking a little money from his father. He thus can afford to publish only one book: Will it be the novel of his friend Denis McCleary (Daniel Chestnut) or the autobiography of his lover, the chanteuse Jessie Brewster (Natalie Tucker)?