Peter DuBois brings his off-Broadway hit to Boston

The room isn’t much to look at — a neglected space, decorated in an Early Hobo motif, with just a few posters from past Huntington Theatre shows hung haphazardly on the walls. It’s in serious need of a coat of paint and a hug. As a place to welcome guests, it’s a dud.

But the mood changes when Peter DuBois enters. A good handshake, a better smile and, best of all, a warm enthusiasm. He plops down in a chair, a good-looking, 40-year-old, teddy bear of a guy, in the middle of his second season as artistic director of the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.

The “artistic director” job description is at least one-part public relations; DuBois appears to have that mastered. Now he’s in the middle of sorting out a tougher piece of the puzzle — continuing to get a handle on this quirky and complex Boston audience.

“I tell people I live in the most liberal and conservative city in country,” says DuBois.

Right now, he’s up to his eyeballs in “Becky Shaw,” as it roars toward opening night at the Boston University Theatre. That explains DuBois’ sneakers, jeans, flannel shirt (untucked) and his mild case of bed-head.

He’s unshaven, but unbeaten.

This is the first play he’s directed on the Huntington’s main stage, and he’s opening with his fastball — “Becky Shaw” was an off-Broadway hit when he directed it last year. It made the “Best of 2009” list in the New York Times, and the playwright, Gina Gionfriddo, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the play.

DuBois says he knew pretty early on that he had a hit on his hands.

“When it opened in New York, you could feel the electricity,” he says. “The audience really responds to this play. You hear belly laughs, people laughing deep down. When both the audience and critics get behind a show, you know you’ve got something special on your hands.”

In the play, which DuBois calls “a dark comedy with a huge heart,” a blind date between the acerbic Max and the fragile Becky goes from bad to worse, ending at a police station. That failure has repercussions for everyone. Much of the edgy humor comes from the fact that Gionfriddo’s characters tell it like it is.

“Her characters are not afraid to speak their minds,” says DuBois. “There’s a bluntness and wit. She’s really honest about human behavior.”

DuBois is a longtime fan of Gionfriddo’s work. They met when they were both students at Brown University. While DuBois began his work in the theater, Gionfriddo forged a successful career as a writer for TV shows such as “Law and Order” and “Cold Case.” But “Becky Shaw” brought them back together. They staged a version of it at the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville. And then, later, it was on to New York.

DuBois thinks the play is a good match with local audiences — it’s set along the Northeast corridor, including Boston, and it has an East Coast vibe. DuBois says, “It’s a great comedy for a very smart town.”

That’s us. DuBois says he’s “really responded to the intelligence of the audiences” in Boston, but he knows he has his work cut out for him. He loves the ethnic mix in the city, but he sees those pockets as segregated. He says arts and cultural institutions have an opportunity and a responsibility to help bring those communities together. He points to the production of “Stick Fly” that recently opened at the Huntington’s second stage at the Boston Center for the Arts, where it’s playing to a healthy mix of white and black patrons.

“All theater is local. A theater needs to be connected to the city it lives in,” says DuBois. “The Huntington Theatre has to look more like the city of Boston. That’s the conversation now.”

IF YOU GO

“Becky Shaw”

Through April 4

Huntington Theatre Company

Tickets: $20-$82.50

Call: 617-266-0800.