The Placer Performance Calendar

 

Great Local Shows - Theatrical Reviews

Title 2 Across
Organization Placer Community Theater
Date(s) of show August 2 - 16, 2014
Reviewer Dick Frantzreb
Review With Auburn’s State Theater undergoing renovation, the Placer Community Theater needed a new temporary home.  They have settled for the intimate space of the Pamelot School of Dance, which required a simpler production, and that production is 2 Across.  The show has only two actors who deliver a 1-1/2-hour performance, without an intermission – itself a major feat in anyone’s book.  The theater is intimate, set with 4-person tables, about 15 to 20 of them, I would guess.  The stage is designed as the inside of a BART car, and the action takes place during the 80-minute journey from the San Francisco Airport to the end of the line in the East Bay.

It’s the middle of the night, and our protagonists – a man and a woman – are the only two people in the car.  What gets them interacting with each other is that they are each trying to while away the time by solving the New York Times Crossword Puzzle.  But from the very start they are antagonists:  she is uptight and proper, he is very much a free spirit.  The differences between them set up some wonderful comedy with insults, anger, frustration, and sarcasm providing many of the laughs early on.  As the play progresses, these two people find common ground and even affection for one another.  But the laughs don’t stop.  The writing is clever and the two actors, Nancy March and Stephen Wellman, make the most of each comic opportunity.  Despite all the edgy humor, the show is ultimately charming.  For me – and I’ll bet for you – it was an evening well spent.

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