Actors’ Playhouse Debuts the Dramatic Comedy Now and Then

One small decision can change the course of our lives forever. At the least, that's the idea behind the staging of Sean Grennan's Now and Then at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, a dramatic comedy set to debut on Wednesday, August 24.

The play, which will make its Florida debut on the main stage, weaves the paths of Jaime, an aspiring pianist who works as a bartender, his girlfriend Abby, and an older man who offers the pair $2,000 for them to listen to his story and share a drink. From there, the play descends into dramatic, comedic, and borderline mysterious mayhem as it dissects romantic relationships and life decisions.

Having directed several other plays by Grennan at Actors' Playhouse, including Making God Laugh, Married Alive, and The Tin Woman, artistic director David Arisco has been a longtime admirer of the playwright's work.

"In the process of working on those shows, Sean and I became acquaintances, friends, and even discussed working on a piece together," Arisco says. "He's not a well-known playwright, but I just love his voice and the way he speaks to every person out there with relatable characters that talk like real people with real-life situations, decisions, and choices."

One of those characters, Abby, is played by Mallory Newbrough, whose background in musical theater has made Now and Then an enticing challenge.

"The texts that are inside the books of musicals are sometimes campy or spectacle-like, whereas the language with this script is so real and so beautifully natural that it was actually difficult for me to memorize because of the way Sean Grennan writes," Newbrough explains. "It's such a joy and a gift to play a character who is so natural for me personally because I'm so used to playing Disney-like characters inside of a musical book. This is giving me a lot more freedom to explore what it's like to be a real person on stage."

Like her fictional counterpart Jamie, Abby is met at a professional crossroads, aspiring to become an English teacher and finish her degree, away from her current job as a waitress. The older passerby who offers them a large sum of money at Jamie's bar, ambiguously named Man, comes to them at a lull period in their lives, followed by an older woman who imparts more wisdom to the young couple.
"There's the young folks, and there's the old folks, and everybody's struggling with what it means to be alive and what it means to be in a relationship," says Stephen Trovillion, who plays Man in the production. "Clearly, the younger people are just starting out in all this, and the older people are looking back on how their relationship progressed, and at every stage of life, obviously, relationships are tough, and funny, and dramatic, and comic, and a little bit crazy."

Perhaps what adds to the metaphorical and literal "twist" in the narrative is all the booze that surrounds the characters.

"I have always wanted to do a bar play, and this is a bar play," Trovillion continues. "It's fun. People are making drinks on stage, and people are drinking on stage. And not surprisingly, because they are getting on stage, people are saying and doing stuff they wouldn't normally do."

But since the very beginning of the production, the potential importance of a chance meeting has been an apparent theme. On the first day of rehearsals, the cast sat down to discuss their own paths to becoming a part of the show, highlighting how several small decisions can lead anyone to cross paths with the right people or be where they need to be in a given moment.

This small exercise was a means of helping the actors understand how Grennan's play works tirelessly to capture this concept.

"This is a play about hard choices," Arisco explains. "A play about respecting those choices or regretting those choices, and how do you handle that? What is the best way to handle it? There's so many questions that are answered and unanswered."

While the story deals with these complex themes and messages on love and life, it also leaves room for audiences, young and old, to take part in this whirlwind of a tale. Whether patrons bring their family or their significant other on a date night, Now and Then aims to cater to everyone comfortably while challenging them to look at life in a brand new light.

"It's about love. It's about sacrifice. It's about wins and losses," Newbrough says. "I would love it if people came in and could connect with us on stage and feel for us on stage and identify with the feelings we're having on stage. I hope when people think about this play, they leave remembering what it's called."

Now and Then. Wednesday, August 24, through Sunday, September 11, at Actors' Playhouse, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; 305-444-9293; actorsplayhouse.org. Tickets cost $40 to $ 90. Wednesday through Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m.