In the first scene of Bekah Brunstetter’s Going to a Place Where You Already Are — now on at New Haven Theater Company as a staged reading through the weekend of Nov. 3 through Nov. 5 — Roberta (Susan Kulp) and Joe (Ralph Buonocore) are sitting in the pews of a church, chatting amiably as the service starts. What they’re talking about is, in some ways, not as important as the fact that they are talking, with the ease and camaraderie of a couple happily together for years. They forget where they are, have to apologize to the people around them. After a minute or so, it finally occurs to Roberta to ask: whose funeral are they attending, again?
That first scene ably sets up the central concern of Going to a Place Where You Already Are, which is that it is a comedy about death. Such things can be tricky. But in NHTC’s hands, this warm, quirky and often quite poignant play shines. It’s also very well chosen as a play to perform as a staged reading; it’s possible, in some ways, that it’s as good in that format as it would be as a fully produced play.
Brunstetter’s play focuses on the classic format of two couples. One, Roberta and Joe, are old enough to be grandparents, and in that first scene, they make it quite clear that they are jovially, comfortably atheist. They’re not terribly concerned about the prospect of an afterlife and don’t feel the need to enjoy one, and their beliefs don’t change even when Roberta receives bad medical news, a diagnosis of aggressive cancer. The challenge to their beliefs come when, during an exam, Roberta’s heart stops beating for a minute. She is resuscitated, and when she regains consciousness, she believes she has seen heaven.
The second couple — Ellie (Melissa Anderson) and Jonas (Kiel Stango) — are in their 20s, and when we meet them, they are in the blissful afterglow of a successful one-night stand. Jonas, a sincere and good-natured person, believes they’re hitting it off in more ways than sexually; he’s interested in getting to know Ellie better. Ellie, however, isn’t so sure that’s a good idea. Is it because she just works too much? Is it because she’s not convinced there’s anything more for them than one night of fun? Does she even like Jonas? Does she like herself? The romance is immediately complicated by the news that her grandmother — Roberta, of course — is sick, and Ellie leaves town to visit.
Going to a Place takes its central subject — death, dying, and the afterlife — completely seriously. Part of what makes it a comedy is the vision of the afterlife that it presents. We’re allowed to see Roberta’s experiences, as she is guided into the afterlife by an amiable angel (Griffin Kulp) who afterward makes a few subtle appearances earthside as well, lending a dash of magical realism to the proceedings. Another part of what makes the play a comedy is its warmth toward its characters. Each of them wrestles with their self-worth and their worth to others in various ways, but we know, in their words and deeds and the ways they ultimately treat each other, that they are better people than they think they are, and that’s what gives the play its heart.
NHTC has staged the reading in part to introduce new members of its company: in addition to Anderson and Buonocore, NHTC is welcoming into its ranks Sara Courtemanche (who has an offstage voice part to play in Going to a Place), Sandra Rodriguez, Jenny Schuck (who has directed this reading), Aleta Staton, John Strano, Marty Tucker, and Jodi Williams. This dramatic expansion of the ensemble will be on fuller display when NHTC fully stages John Kolvenbach’s dramatic comedy Goldfish in March. But the injection of new blood is obvious in Going to a Place as well; with a bigger troupe of actors, the company can simply do more. Schuck mentioned that the reading was put together after only four rehearsals in one week (one would not have guessed this) and the ease with which the new members work with established members of the company is obvious. Kulp is radiant as Roberta; as her cancer worsens she appears almost to become younger, her conviction giving her an unyielding optimism. Buonocore succeeds marvelously as her foil, his anger, despair and sense of betrayal the mirror to Kulp’s growing hope. Anderson excels as the complex and often awkward Ellie, who swings between sharp rebuke and an (often very funny) flailing helplessness. And Stango plays Jonas with a disarming directness that makes you believe the sincerity of his intentions, and feel his hurt when Ellie occasionally wounds him in her efforts to make sense of the situation she finds herself in.
Margaret Mann, meanwhile, plays a role not in the original script, of reading stage directions and notes for the actors that would remain invisible to the audience in a full production. The way Mann delivers her lines, with a wry detachment, is a victory of acting and directing. They lend Mann the air of an omniscient deity, who knows more than the characters do about what’s going on, and lets the audience know as well. A few of the ways the lines land deliver some of the biggest laughs in the show, to the point that one wonders if a stage managing character shouldn’t be part of a full production.
As before the pandemic, in choosing material and leaning into the strengths of its company of actors, NHTC has created an intimate theater experience that’s both entertaining and deeply affecting. For all its lightness, Going to a Place Where You Already Are is also a rumination on the power of both faith and doubt, and shows us just a touch of the terror that lies below the comedy, as we puny humans try to fathom the unfathomable.
Going to a Place Where You Already Are runs at New Haven Theater Company, at EBM Vintage at 839 Chapel St., Nov. 3 through Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. Admission is free and reserving a seat is encouraged. Visit NHTC’s website for tickets, details, and more information.
