We think we're living in difficult times right now and, in fact, we are. Remember that our generation didn't invent hard times, though, and there is no better reminder than Frank Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's epic 1939 novel "Grapes of Wrath," which documents the descent of the Joad family into the maelstrom caused by the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Crops failed due to lack of crop rotation, erosion and deep plowing of the Great Plans, affecting more than 100 million acres of formerly arable land. Add drought and winds, and you've got the recipe for disaster. Farms failed and sharecropping families moved west in droves. The Joads move to the Salinas Valley in California where they have heard there may be work.

The story and this faithful adaptation are biblical in their scope. There's not much different to the ear in the book of Job and the book of Joad, nor is there much difference in effect. This family should be rejoicing when Tom Joad (Christian Conn) comes home from a prison sentence, having killed a man in self-defense. His debt to society served, he returns home after four years to find...nothing. On the road he meets his former preacher, Jim Casy (Pearce Bunting), who tags along to the family homestead only to discover that it's deserted and the house is off-kilter, having been threatened by a bulldozer. This is hardly the homecoming Tom envisioned. Muley Graves, James Michael Reilly in one of his many roles, tells Tom where the family has gone so the reunion can finally happen.

Between and among the scene changes, music is performed by Jay Leibowitz, Nick Plakias, and local phenom and violinist, Connor Dugan Leszczuk much of it original music by Plakias. Leibowitz and Plakias play a variety of instruments and the songs are folk and labor songs from the time. Not only is this evocative of the time, keeping us grounded in the relative sense of the moment, but a great way to move action between scenes and providing background. All of the musicians play multiple roles along the way, flexing their acting as well as their musical chops. Michael Daly, also in multiple roles, frequently joins the ensemble.

The happy reunion occurs around suppertime, on the eve of the move to California. Pa (John Little) wants to surprise Ma (Wendy Barrie-Wilson) with their new dinner guests. Grampa (Jim Mohr) and Granma (Betty Moore) come down from their nap and the family reunion is complete when the younger children join the group. Noah (Jake Berger), Uncle John (James Patrick Earley) who is Pa's brother, Winfield (Jesse Easterling) and Ruthie (Olivia Haleblian) are just thrilled Tom is home and sister Rose of Sharon (Susan Maris) has a surprise of her own-she's a married lady, and her husband Connie Rivers (Tim Nicolai) has already put "a bun in the oven". Brother Al (Jack Moran) drags himself in after a night of carousing and the family sits down to their first supper together in a long time. Jim Casy is invited to join them and ultimately becomes a travel companion for the Joads. Casy's looking for his lost faith, and he'll find a new calling in California.

The ensemble that forms the living moving scenery to supplement Marion Williams' elegant and spare set design includes, in addition to those mentioned previously, Elizabeth Hess, Rebecca Davis, Philip Guerette, Kate Ivins, Stefanie Resnick and Noah Verzani. The actors seamlessly weave a typically Shakespearean web, playing fellow sharecroppers, deputy sheriffs, interlocutors, camp directors and more. It is especially good to see Philip Guerette in this production, having enjoyed his Grumio in "Taming of the Shrew" for the Next Stage Ensemble of Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Under Joe Discher's deft direction, each of these expert players blooms. Costume design by Maggie Dick, lights by Matthew Adelson, sound by Steven L. Beckel and fight direction by Rick Sordelet make spare grace notes to the unfolding tragedy, with great bits of stagecraft that include a river built within the stage and some amazing indoor rain, complemented by the torrents streaming outside on the night of the performance I viewed. The whole world was in tears.

Bonnie J. Monte, the Artistic Director, made a brief speech prior to the curtain where she talked of the debate that raged within the company on whether or not to produce this show. Monte became somewhat sentimental as she gave the reasons why it is the right show at the right time. The economic tragedy of our times is still unfolding, and one line of the play is particularly resonant for me: "there is one man holding a million acres while 100,000 good farmers go hungry." The rumors of work, then no jobs to be found are the daily fare for many. The country weathered the Dust Bowl times, but did we heed the lessons? Ma Joad speaks of the difference between men and women being that men move from crisis to crisis and women flow like rivers. When the penultimate pinnacle of the play occurs and Rose of Sharon does what she must do, survival means desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Grapes of Wrath" began its run October 21 and continues through November 15. There is a canned food drive for the InterFaith Food Pantry in Morristown, which is especially in need of low-salt and no salt soups, dried milk and Parmalat, and would greatly appreciate your help. "Grapes of Wrath" plays at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue at Lancaster Road in Madison, New Jersey on the campus of Drew University, which is easily accessible by train or car. Performances are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Call 973/408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org for more information.