"Everything is tolerable if we just talk about it."
So says Pip in Richard Greenberg's "Three Days of Rain," this semester's workshop production from Pen, Paint and Pretzels (3Ps). The gripping and complicated story shows many moments of fear and uncertainty and presents them through clever dialogue and beautiful language.
The play consists of a three-person cast, entirely composed of Tufts seniors. Each of the two acts features a different generation of characters, and the actors get to play both the younger generation and their parents during the course of the show.
Playing characters that share DNA can be a challenge, but the actors say that they simply commit to each character in his or her own right and let the audience find the similarities.
"It's kind of tricky, but I try not to get into my own head about it," said Royi Gavrielov, who plays Walker and Walker's father. "I think an honest portrayal of them makes the similarities apparent. There's a lot in the text that shows what they do and don't have in common."
The three characters in the first act are the mentally unstable Walker, his sister Nan (Lily Berthold-Bond) and their childhood friend Pip (Gideon Jacobs), who is the son of their father's late colleague. The first half of the play is centered around the surprises and angst that come with reading the will of Nan and Walker's recently deceased father. The questions raised by the will and Walker's discovery of his father's cryptic journal, hidden in a rundown Manhattan loft, drive the action of the first act.
The three characters offer convincing interpretations of what must have gone on in their parents' lives and even convince themselves that there is no mystery left. They believe what they want to believe.
The second act, however, takes what the first act convinced the audience of and flips it right on its head, as it follows what truly took place 40 years prior.
Although "Three Days of Rain" features a cast of seniors, it is directed by junior Ann Noling, who is making her directing debut for 3Ps.
"It's been a good challenge, a fun challenge," Noling said. "It's my first time directing in a round, and it really helps to have acted in the round."
Noling selected the show herself earlier in the year for both practical and personal reasons.
"I picked the play for two reasons," Noling said. "I think it's a really beautiful play … and it works very well with the space. This is a workshop, so it's supposed to have a smaller cast and be very character-driven."
The three cast members agree that if one is in pursuit of a character-driven performance, this darkly humorous piece fits the bill precisely.
"They are very human characters," Gavrielov said. "What's nice is that you're seeing something about real people; it's not farcical at all."
With department shows this semester mostly focusing on less modern productions, Noling felt that "Three Days of Rain," written in 1997, would be the perfect complement.
"It's nice to have a really modern play — it's not such a common thing to see on college campuses," Noling said. "It feels younger and more relatable. … It's not about college students, but it deals with a lot of the same issues we deal with, and so I thought it would be very accessible."
"Three Days of Rain" is ultimately wryly funny and emotionally rewarding. The fast-paced, witty dialogue is something that any audience can enjoy, so come to the Balch Arena Theater tonight at either 7 or 9:30 p.m. for a wonderful theater experience.
