High school sweethearts reunite for the first time since their breakup thirty years earlier in Timothy Braun’s absorbing World Premiere two-hander Coney Island Land, or The Great Existential Actuality at The End of The Universe, a terrifically acted and designed guest production at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Complex.

Were it not for the 2020 pandemic lockdown, it’s likely that 2 (Thomas Piper) might never have reached out to 1 (Tate Evans) via Facebook, but isolation can push a person to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, though exactly who invited whom to the Coney Island Best Western Hotel room where 1 is spending Memorial Day Weekend 2021 while attending a nearby conference is open to argument.

(Equally open to argument is playwright Braun’s decision to call his characters 1 and 2 rather than give them names, but I digress.)

Whoever issued the invitation, it doesn’t take long for the high school exes to begin their in-person catch-up.

She’s married with two children. He’s still resolutely single. She’s given up on her youthful dream of becoming a poet. He’s been more successful at making his dreams a reality, though writing blogs for travel websites isn’t quite the same as being a travel writer.

In any case, whatever happily-ever-after dreams 1 may have had when she married a man she no longer loves, her plans to exit the marriage now leave the door open for a future with 2, despite his having left her high and dry the night of their high school prom without ever telling her why.

It’s a question that has hung in the air for the past three decades, as has the hope that they might someday be able to pick up where they once left off.

And it’s a question that just might get answered tonight as they recall their shared past over a bottle of Boone’s Farm wine, though not always in quite the same way. (She says they called his high school car “The Fat Toad;” he maintains that it was “The Magic Toad.” She says he cheated on her with Monique; he insists her name was Monica.)

They also imagine the kind of conversations they might be having if it were they who were awaiting the arrival of another married couple for dinner and not 1 and her actual spouse, who unfortunately keeps calling her hotel room at the most inopportune moments.

All of this adds up to a play likely to resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost and then imagined what might have been (and what might still be).

Not everything works to perfection in the play’s World Premiere production.

You might find yourself wishing it were clearer how much time has passed between each of what Braun refers to as the play’s “moments,” or whether their imagined scenes as husband and wife (or a delightful dance sequence set to Men Without Hats’ The Safety Dance) are actually taking place in 1’s hotel room or only in their minds.

And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why 1 abandons the use of conversational contractions when answering her husband’s repeated phone calls. (“I am sorry. I did not mean to scare you. I hope you are not scared.”)

But these are minor quibbles in a production that has director Lucy Smith Conroy eliciting richly layered performances from her two stars (both new to me) who’ve known each other since their Duke University days, a closeness made palpable in the authenticity of their onstage chemistry.

And it’s not just Conroy’s direction and Evans and Piper’s performances that merit cheers.

They’ve also made the savvy decision to engage some of L.A.’s best and busiest designers (scenic designer Jeff G. Rack, costume designer Mylette Nora, lighting designer Gavan Wyrick, sound designer Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski, and projection designer Gabrieal Griego) to give Coney Island Land the most impeccable and imaginative of production designs.

Coney Island Land is produced by Griego and Misha Riley and presented by CIL Productions. Jennifer Palumbo is production stage manager. Ken Werther is publicist.

Sunday’s performance appeared to be primarily attended by friends of Coney Island Land’s two stars, which is kind of a shame because this is a play and production that deserves a much wider audience than just friends and family.

For anyone who’s ever wondered “What if,” this is one World Premiere well worth taking a chance on.

Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.Onstage411.com/ConeyIsland

–Steven Stanley
March 3, 2024
Photos: Frank Ishman

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Tags: Los Angeles Theatre Review, Theatre 68, Timothy Braun