What Became of Us Off-Broadway Reviews

Lotfi’s script is beautifully poetic. The characters recall their childhood, from the glow of a neon sign deodorant advertisement outside their apartment window to the tangy taste of orange slices. It was a delight to listen to the memories the siblings had of their upbringing and how their parents’ immigrant experience shaped their lives.

Although What Became of Us represents smart, even elegant playwriting, a certain emotional coolness arises from the formal nature of the drama’s structure and its repetitive language. This abstract quality is instilled further by the strategically minimal environs and staging of director Jennifer Chang’s apt production. Moving around a virtually empty space designed by Tanya Orellana and delicately lighted by designer Reza Behjat, the performers never look directly at each other until nearly the story’s final moments.

Anyone else ready to settle in at the Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2 for an evening of dystopian gloom and doom? Well, if that’s your thing, you’re about to be disappointed by Shayan Lofti’s touching 75-minute two-hander, seemingly set in a peaceful here and now, detailing the differing lives yet ultimately unbreakable bond between two siblings. Simply yet smartly directed by Jennifer Chang, this poetic work speaks to all of us who have had to navigate complicated familial relationships.