Want to flee the hospital waiting room at the start of “Next Fall,” Geoffrey Nauffts’ drama of faith and doubt, love and the spectre of wrenching loss?
That’s as it should be.
A well-worn sofa and badly hued walls capture the institutional unpleasantness of the space, but that’s not why you’ll want to escape.
Instead, it’s the uneasy vigil of friends and family awaiting news after an accident has left Luke (Mark Lively) in a bad state.
There’s Brandon (Brian Brooks), a buttoned-down friend of Luke’s, or is he more? Holly (the appealing Johanna Jaquith), who, rattled by Luke’s condition, feels the tug of her childhood religion. There’s the larger-than-life mother of the patient, Arlene (Judy Phelan-Hill), and Butch, her ex and Luke’s dad. Played with a gruff Southern mien by Michael Leopard, he spends much of the play living up to his name.
Into this fretting crowd blows an anxious Adam (Todd Black). Unbeknownst to Luke’s parents, he’s been their son’s partner for five years.
It’s a sorry situation: having no legal or familial standing, due in part to Luke’s cowardice. And the whispered conversations between Brandon, Holly and Adam when Luke’s parents are by their son’s bedside suggests even friends can be complicated in a crisis.
Fortunately, we aren’t condemned to only sit in that waiting room.
Much of “Next Fall” recounts how Luke and Adam became an odd and tender couple in the first place.
Luke is a Christian, which gives the play (in its final weekend at Lowry’s ) its emotional and ethical twists. He lives openly in New York City but hasn’t yet told either parent about his sexuality. As for Adam, forget the Biblical name, he falls a little to the left of agnostic.
It’s a fine set-up that isn’t as forced as it sounds. Nominated for a Tony for outstanding play in 2010, Nauffts’ drama handles belief and disbelief with an evenhandedness.
Adam’s biases about religion are not entirely sympathetic — a good thing. And as Luke, Lively’s convictions often seem young and unexamined.
Under the direction of Steve Tangedal there are a few too many blackout pauses, but his leads make it easy to believe in Luke and Adam’s intimacy as well as their challenges.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com, twitter.com/bylisakennedy
“NEXT FALL.” A Firehouse Theater Company and Theatre Out Denver production. Written by Geoffrey Nauffts. Directed by Steve Tange-dal. Featuring Todd Black, Mark Lively, Johanna Jaquith, Brian Brooks, Judy Phelan-Hill and Michael Leopard. Through Sept. 28. At the John Hand Theatre/Colorado Free University, 7653 E. First Place. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Tickets, $18-$20, via or 303-562-3232.
