I am not completely sold on this script, but the production won me over 100%. It is obvious that director Jacqueline Toboni thought through every aspect of this production and dedicated the attention necessary to fully realize her vision. The set design, by Charlotte Dworshak, is clever as hell. The action takes place in the apartment of a woman who is on the verge of moving. As such, everything except the couch (which thank you for not wrapping the couch that would have been distracting) is made from or wrapped in cardboard. The set itself permeates an instability and a transience that sets up the action of the piece marvelously. It’s subtle but highly effective.
The same can be said for the two actors Jon Manganello and Zoe Kanters. As this play takes place over the course of two evenings - January 2004 and July 2005 - it would have been easy to fall into making big obvious choices to help the audience differentiate between the two. Manganello could have done the same as he was playing identical twin brothers. Instead, the choices made were beautifully subtle, yet perfectly clear. The physicality of the two brothers was just different enough that even without the costume changes, which was simply switching a shirt, it was obvious which brother was present. Kanters was also able to imbue a physicality change between the two time periods. She was playing the same person, but it was obvious how the intervening year had wrought change.
In lessor hands, the flaws inherent in this script would have been glaring. As it is, they were easy to overlook. I hope to see more from this production team in the future.