Reviewer: Kristine Gotham
Venue: Bay City Players
Wife: I want a divorce. Husband: Ok. And so begins the journey into the life and marriage of Nancy and Bill French in Bay City Player’s Production of Grand Horizons. Bill (Paul Lutenske) and Nancy (Debbie Lake) have been married for fifty years. They have two grown sons and have recently moved into the Independent Living section of a senior community. Life together is routine, predictable and Nancy wonders if there is anything else. She longs to be seen and acknowledged by her husband. She thinks that he should fight for her, fight for their marriage, and instead he just agrees to her decision to end their marriage. The boys, now men with lives of their own, come home to try and understand what is happening with their parents and maybe help them to see what a crazy idea it is to end a fifty-year relationship. Older son, Ben (Scott LaMont), and his wife Jess (Erin Frye) are expecting their first child. Ben is a lawyer who is certain that the whole situation can be cleared up quickly and forgotten. Younger son, Brian (Gil Hall), is a drama teacher. He is so careful to not hurt anyone’s feelings or leave anyone out that his current production has a cast of two hundred! While Bill goes about preparing to move out, Nancy throws herself into her charity, and the boys try to make sense of what is happening their parents’ relationship. There are conversations between all five family members in which one son defends or blames one or the other parent for letting the marriage get to this point. Or where daughter in law, Jess, knowing what it is like to be a wife, defends her mother in law’s decision. There are conversations between the brothers remembering back to their childhood and how it may not have been as perfect as it seemed. There are conversations between Ben and Jess where they look at their life and relationship, how it is changing with the new baby coming, and how they want to spend their life together. And there are conversations between Bill and Nancy where they voice their anger and frustration, toss about blame for their current situation, and finally begin to really talk about how they feel and maybe what their relationship could be going forward. Does Nancy really want a divorce? Is Bill really as apathetic about the whole situation as he seems?
Each actor, along with two additional cast mates, Jason Gorczyca as Brian’s date Tommy and Laurene Franjione as Bill’s “girlfriend” Carla, provide such a depth of character and realism that the audience forgets they are watching a play and are instead a fly on the wall in a real-life relationship. The play is not a roll in the aisle with laughter kind of production, but it does have some funny moments, some sad moments, and some moments where you think about your own life and relationships and what you want them to be.
Director, Judy Harper, chose a cast that relates to each other so well. Tammy Patterson’s costume design is exactly right for the time, place and subject. Michael Wisniewski’s set design is a realistic depiction of life in a retirement community.
Grand Horizons continues at Bay City Players, Saturday, Feb 22 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, Feb 23 at 3 pm.