Every morning at the local diner in a small town, a waitress refills a regular’s coffee. An unlikely friendship develops and keeps him coming back for more. But when he asks for a shocking favor, it brings to light both of their deepest secrets. The Counter is a funny, surprising, and moving meditation on the everyday connections that can change our lives. After the success of Too Much, Too Much, Too Many and Napoli, Brooklyn, playwright Meghan Kennedy debuts her next Roundabout commission, The Counter. Directed by Tony Award® winner David Cromer (The Band’s Visit).
Kennedy seems to be attempting something poignant and hopeful, close in tone to Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” an unlikely connection between two regular people; or perhaps even Samuel D. Hunter’s “A Case for the Existence of God,” which explores the extraordinary that exists within the sadness of the ordinary, the cosmic that can be revealed in the everyday. The production even has the right director to effect such a tone: Cromer helmed Hunter’s play Off-Broadway, and achieved something similar in the memorable 2009 Off Broadway production of “Our Town.”
That’s a high quality group, and The Counter fits right in. Kennedy deals in secrets and grief and escape, in running away and starting again, and most crucially in standing in front of a suddenly opened door: You either stay inside, crushed by your habitual fear and unhappiness, or bravely walk through.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
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