From the boundary-pushing, Tony Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins comes this electrifying comedy meditation on impermanence, nostalgia, and isolation. Directed by Don Mays, The Comeuppance starts innocently enough as five former classmates from a Catholic academy gather on the eve of their 20-year high school reunion. Fueled by cocktails and weed, they reminisce at a suburban porch pre-party that hangs on a pervious border with the other side. Wilbury Theatre Group’s production is witty and unsettling, emotionally charged in ways that creep up slowly and steadily so that the tonal duality of humor and dread might coexist.
The familiar premise is a melting pot in May’s skilled hands. Something sinister simmers underneath the laughter and familiar rituals. This so-called “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group — MERGE,” once a tight-knit gang of misfits, now faces the disquieting mirror of who they’ve become. As the porch gathering unfolds, Jacob-Jenkins’s dialogue veers from friendly roasting to confessionals and moral reckoning. Amid the quiet hum of political and personal disillusionment, the production captures how history, both national and interpersonal, presses and shapes us. In the gap between who they were and who they’ve become, they explore themes of aging, mortality, nostalgia, and the impact of national tragedies.
“Comeuppance is set on the eve of a high school reunion with a group of long-time friends who grew up, as I and so many of these cast members did, at the dawn of social media and in the long shadow of Columbine, September 11th, George W. Bush and Iraq, I graduated a year after these characters,” says Wilbury Theatre’s Artistic Director Josh Short. “Watching these actors gather on that porch and try to make sense of the last 20 years, I kept recognizing something I hadn’t quite named before: We got very good at moving through hard things. We’re less sure what to do when we stop.”
The audience sits in ambiguity as the production resists oversharing the surreal moral elements, such as what Death is bringing to the table. He is understood to be a divine agent tasked with collecting souls upon death. It’s not about an evil force but rather marks the transition to the afterlife, minus the chaos. OK, some chaos ensues, but it’s all for the greater dramatic good. Temporal dislocation explores the misalignment between the timing of human decisions and their long-term consequences.
Rodney Witherspoon gives a powerful performance as Emilio, and also speaks as Death. Emilio is arrogant, outspoken, negative, and judgy — but he isn’t wrong! Christine Treglia as Ursula counterbalances Emilio nicely with her comic antics, keen sense of awareness, and positively kind heart. The natural, unforced interplay makes their performances engagingly believable as the backbone of this group. Francesca Hansen-DiBello as Kristina, Marcel A. Mascaro as Paco, and Jenna Lea Scott as Caitlin complete the circle of friends as they reminisce and realize what they’ve lost over the years.
Set Design by Scott Osborne gives us a homey feel with an attractive, tiled façade of Ursula’s house in a quiet woodsy area. Lighting Design by Andy Russ occasionally freezes time, allowing for personal reflections. As lighting suddenly becomes bright and bold in color, the characters are paralyzed, save for the one telling his/her story. A couple of these monologues feel a bit too lengthy, but the cast does their best to keep the material engaging.
The literal figure of Death looms, inhabiting the friends to reveal deep truths. Realistic conversation becomes existential reflection, highlighted by these colorful overtones as the friends confront their past and present selves, and come to terms with the events that shaped their generation. Ultimately, The Comeuppance at Wilbury will have you reflecting on identity, the versions of yourself you’ve left behind, time immemorial, and the time you have left. It is a haunting that’s well worth your time. Wilbury presents The Comeuppance through April 12. For more information, visit thewilburygroup.org/the-comeuppance.html.