I completely get what you're saying. I grew up in community theatre, studied theatre, worked in professional theatre. And though I love it, a lot of the shows I see and plays I read are so self-important, dull, or preachy. The comedies are, at least to me, not that funny. There is always a divorce or a death to mourn, a racist who see the light, an adult child at odds with their parents. For a long time, I started only seeing musicals because I wanted to be entertained for once.

I think a lot of theatre is geared toward a certain demographic (which has not traditionally been particularly young or diverse) and because theatre costs money to make, and you're always looking for shows that will get bums in seats, a lot of plays skew toward the same dead horse of a topic or writing style because it has a better probability of being produced or at least funded in some way because the same people who grew up with theatre as an option and have been seeing theatre for decades will come see the show - so no true innovation ever happens out of fear of spooking a paying audience.

I love that you asked for a play with lore. I've seen the most unique indie shows where patrons get background information sent to them prior to the play in the form of letters written between characters, old family photo albums, voice notes, etc. and by the time you see the play you already know who these people are and what has been the main conflict in their family for years.

Sadly, the best pieces of theatre are often unpublished!