I'll give them that. Schneiderman's latest play, the rough and tumble, profanity-laced "Foundations," probably wouldn't be found on any other stage in Buffalo but the New Phoenix Theatre, where it belatedly opened Thursday after a couple of false starts due to cast illness. "Foundations" is meant to provoke and challenge, so says Schneiderman. This three-act story of union-busting on Buffalo's East Side - based on real incidents learned by the playwright when he was a cabbie - racism, police brutality and political corruption is by far Schneiderman's most ambitious, its delayed premiere triumphing over much more than the flu: major rewrites, cash shortfalls, casting shuffles. It has arrived with Schneiderman directing and most of his Subversive regulars intact.

Briefly, the story is this: Construction crew chief Frank Benedetti, a union veteran but one with job-related demons, leads a dysfunctional building team on an East Side project, ostensibly a supermarket. After funds dwindle, it's decided by the money changers downtown to build a police station instead. The ragtag crew is outraged, particularly black crane operator John Sheppard, whose troubled son was killed by police on just these mean streets a few days ago. By-the-book Benedetti is losing his grip, and a squealing clerk-of-the-works runs to "The Man" at every perceived work stoppage. The crew does indeed stop, gets into the beer before breakfast and the principled Sheppard refuses to leave his crane in a one-man protest.

Things go downhill fast, and the story doesn't end well; although Schneiderman says that eventually the market was built, here the police have the last word. In pieces, audiences learn about the crew, too much information sometimes, but "Foundations" is really a pro-union valentine of sorts to blue-collar construction workers, a gritty tale of a day on the job by people who work with their hands. It's a tough business.

Schneiderman creates some fascinating characters. The words he puts in their mouths, their commentaries on the world-at-large, their insults, the knifing ethnic slurs by a few, their vulgar nicknames, come out sounding real. There is enough billingsgate for a dozen plays. Sensitive ears are advised to stay home by the fire.

In truth, "Foundations" rails on too long and oversimplification creeps into conversations. But, fine performances abound. Dennis Keefe's Frank is a train wreck, red-faced and always near rage. In the end, though, he and Sheppard team to face the music. Impressive work. Other key roles are excellently played by Andy Moss, Chris Standart, Victor Morales and Sandra Gilliam. The cast also includes Lawrence Rowswell, Keith Elkins, Hasheen DeBerry, Tom Scahill and Marshall Maxwell.

But the night belongs to tall Willie Judson Jr., as the mourning, heartbroken father and sudden social activist, Sheppard. Always imposing, again real and honest, Judson is marvelous here in grief and passion. The man is electric. The Benedetti-Sheppard exchanges rivet.

David Butler's set is appropriately cluttered; a simulated crane is the centerpiece.

Schneiderman may talk tough, but he quotes Federico Garcia Lorca and Bertolt Brecht; a scholarly streak lurks under the rubble. "Foundations" may never right any wrongs, but it gives you plenty to take home and think about.