Next Act Theater concludes its 2011-12 season with the world premiere of Richard Lyon Conlon’s one time, a story billed as “a man, a woman, a park bench, and a need to share secrets from the past.” It is all that, and so much more. This romantic comedy for older adults is a “must-see” of the spring theater season.
In the hands of two exceptionally gifted actors, the stories of Mason and Sonia begin to unfold. But in this non-linear play, one starts to wonder where do these stories begin, and where do they end? Not to worry; all is revealed before the final scene. But the interim is a guessing game that keeps us wondering about the lives of these two 60-somethings.
They meet by chance in the park, and at first they almost don’t recognize each other. After all, it has been 34 years since they last spoke. But the romantic sparks are slowly warmed by their remembrances of things past.
Sonia starts the memory game in her opening remark: “One time, when I was 19, I posed in the nude.” Well, that certainly gets Mason’s attention. This is not the housewife he remembers from “the old neighborhood.”
Conlon, who developed this play in part at Chicago Dramatists, gives this play far more depth than a mere trip down memory lane. He makes the audience wonder if the morally “right” choices are truly the right ones. Like us all, the characters are forced to make the best decisions they can at the time. Some of these decisions have led to a lifetime of loneliness for them both.
Mason is the more pragmatic of the two. “What’s the point?” he says angrily, referring to Sonia’s sudden disappearance from the place where they first met. Sonia attempts to explain that she had to do what was right for her, not necessarily what was right for them both.
A play such as one time depends almost completely on the skill of its cast. Thankfully, the Next Act production was able to tap two stage veterans, Jonathan Gillard Daly and Linda Stephens. They fit together as comfortably as the clothes they wear. Daly appears in a tweed sport jacket, corduroy pants and scuffed brown shoes. Sonia is also casually attired, wearing oversized shirts, slacks and flats. Her one accessory is a long, colorful scarf that contains significance for them both. The ebb and flow of their dialogue appears effortless.
Occasionally, things come to a boil between the two, only to be smoothed over during the couple’s next meeting. Their repartee is often witty as well as revealing, and the humor flows naturally through their conversation. Without giving anything away, the play ends as the audience hopes it will.
The play’s simplicity is mirrored in the set design, which features two wooden benches and an abstract background suggesting a secluded park. Bird songs and other rural sounds also indicate the play’s location. By minimizing the outside elements, Next Act artistic director David Cescarini has given prominence to the missing pieces of these two lost lives. It was a wise choice for an entertaining evening of theater.
