A suicide hotline center provides the backdrop for Robert Axelrod’s Lifeline, a Road Theatre Company World Premiere dramedy as compelling as it is funny as it is ultimately quite moving thanks to a terrific script, a fabulous cast, a sensational production design, and Ken Sawyer in the director’s chair.

It’s hard to imagine a more eclectic sextet than the ones Axelrod has assembled here, beginning with 30something trainers/best-friends Jen and Drew (Brittany Visser and Tommy Dickie), the former female-identifying and straight, the latter male-identifying and gay.

As for the diverse foursome about to embark on a four-week training program, they range from Gen Z-er Sarah Beth (Naomi Rubin) to Millennials Kai (Clifton J. Adams) and Maya (Xoë Sazzle) to Boomer Patti (Amy Tolsky), as stymied by terms like “non-binary-identifying” as she is when asked to provide her “pronouns.” (“You can just call me Patti.)

And don’t get Sarah Beth started on making a list of “Rules,” a word she finds “rather aggressive, and very much a byproduct of the patriarchy,” which is why for today’s introductory session trainees will be asked to provide “Guidelines” ranging from “Treating callers with respect” to “Not assuming someone’s pronouns” to using the phrase “Whoops, wow, forgive me” whenever a well-intentioned remark might cause someone to “experience some discomfort or negative feelings.”

Trainees are instructed to greet callers with a warm and friendly “Lifeline, this is [insert name of volunteer, either real or a preferred alias]. I’m really glad you called,” followed by a direct-and-to-the-point, “Are you thinking of killing yourself?” and to never use the term “commit suicide” to refer to an act that ought instead to be described as either “attempted” or “completed.”

And that’s not all, as over the course of the play’s lickety-split 100-minute running time, we come to know each of Axelrod’s characters up close and personal, learning a good deal more about each of them than initially meets the eye, from the challenges of being a trans person (“My choices are either live alone forever or be a fetishized commodity and pretend that that’s romance.”) to looking for love on a gay dating app where the first question one gets asked is “Are you clean?” i.e. HIV-negative.

Dramatic scenes and revelatory monologs fill us in on each character’s back story, all of which adds up to a powerful piece of writing enriched by six superb performances under Sawyer’s astute direction.

Road Theatre treasure Tolsky has never been finer than she is here in an adeptly understated turn as a woman dealing with a devastating loss, and her scene opposite an equally stunning Visser is about as gut-wrenching as it gets.

Add to that Adams’ flamboyant-and-fabulous Kai, Dickie’s salt-of-the-earth Drew, Rubin’s “Gen-Zer’s Know Best” Sarah Beth, and Sazzle’s more-than-meets-the-eye” Maya (whose Caribbean lilt suggests someone not born and raised in Florida as Axelrod’s script would have it) and you’ve got a cast that’s more than up to the task of bringing a playwright’s words to life, with composer/musician Lou Roy adding her guitar and vocal gifts to the mix, including original music co-written with Joh Chase.

 Scenic designer Desma Murphy, lighting designer Matthew Richter, projection designer Nicholas Santiago, and prop designer Aaron Lyons have combined their prodigious talents to give Lifeline the most visually striking of production designs (as the accompanying photos make abundantly clear), Mary Jane Miller’s costume choices are all spot-on gems, and director Sawyer once again proves himself a sound design master from start to finish.

Elizabeth Herron is assistant director. Casey Daley, Gabby Faulkner, Ivy Khan, Rafi S. Pérez, Juan Pope, and Destinee Stewart make up the play’s alternate cast. Zachary Read appears on video as Mason.

Lifeline is produced by Danna Hyams and Taylor Gilbert. Arianne Neumark is associate producer. Maury Gonzalez is production stage manager. David Elzer is publicist.

Starting off the Road Theatre Company’s 2026 slate of shows with a bang, Robert Axelrod’s Lifeline’s had me from its characters’ initial meet-and-greet to its life-affirming finale.

Don’t be surprised if you too find yourself heading home from the theater entertained, enlightened, and enriched.

The Road Theatre, NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.RoadTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
January 23, 2026
Photos: Ken Sawyer

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Robert Axelrod, The Road Theatre Company