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<\/p>\nBy\u00a0 JEAN LOWERISON | Uptown News<\/p>\n
Some people have trouble making connections. Others can\u2019t seem to give them up.<\/p>\n
Joe (Richard Rivera) and Roberta (Jody Catlin) sit in a church pew making snarky comments about the service. They are there for a funeral but are having trouble stifling their giggles.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not kids: they\u2019re in late middle age, and not religious. But when a hymn starts, Roberta seems somehow transformed.<\/p>\n
Love, humor, and the hereafter are intertwined cleverly in Bekah Brunstetter\u2019s charming \u201cGoing to a Place Where You Already Are,\u201d playing through Feb. 16 at OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista.<\/p>\n
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The plot is simple enough: Joe and Roberta have been married a long time. Joe is utterly dependent on his wife, but Roberta has had those \u201cis this all there is?\u201d thoughts, which will come to a head when she is diagnosed with life-threatening lung tumors.<\/p>\n
Joe wants her to sign up for any and all available treatments. But Roberta has seen a… what? A vision? In the form of an ageless being in white; could it be an angel? And she\u2019s getting less interested in medicine all the time.<\/p>\n
Besides, years ago Roberta lost a child and now she wonders whether there is the biblically promised \u201cplace for you in heaven.\u201d Might she be reunited with Charlie?<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Joe\u2019s workhorse granddaughter Ellie (Heather Warren) has come home with a new friend named Jonas (Miguel G\u00f3ngora, Jr.); we see new possibilities for them in the form of a first roll in the hay.<\/p>\n
Ellie is in the editing game, an often-frazzled sneak smoker who seems to need an attitude adjustment when she claims, \u201cI do not have the luxury of free time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonas is a wheelchair-using charmer \u2014 a philosophical type who has learned to survive, even thrive with his disability. He argues to Ellie that \u201cTime is an illusion.\u201d Ellie begs to differ and mentions deadlines. But she is attracted to his attitude and seeks wisdom from Roberta.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m wasting my time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing,\u201d counters Roberta.<\/p>\n
Hannah Logan directs this fascinating series of philosophical vignettes with a sure hand that keeps the snappy pace going for this 90-minute wonder.<\/p>\n
She found the right cast. Catlin is earthy and nurturing as Roberta, who comes to feel that letting go isn\u2019t the worst thing.<\/p>\n
Rivera is totally convincing as Joe, whose fear at the thought of losing Roberta is almost palpable. Warren\u2019s hurry-up Ellie contrasts nicely with G\u00f3ngora\u2019s take-it-easy Jonas.<\/p>\n
Oh, yes. About that angel. Played with great panache by \u201cgayngel\u201d Patrick Mayuyu (he announces that he\u2019s not straight), he seems to show up at just the right time. And this is one rockin\u2019 angel: wait\u2019ll you see him vamp to \u201cAll That Jazz!\u201d<\/p>\n
The tech crew does the show proud. Ron Logan\u2019s simple set is easily reconfigured and features a church pew that becomes a couch.<\/p>\n
Matt Warburton\u2019s sound design and Quinn Schuster\u2019s lighting make atmospheric transitions between the here and the beyond. Natalia Araiza\u2019s costume designs are fine.<\/p>\n
In a series of situations that are funny, awkward, touching, or sad, Brunstetter probes existential questions: What (if anything) really matters in life? How long is forever? And the jackpot question: Where are we going?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t miss the chance to ponder such existential questions with Brunstetter and OnStage\u2019s fine cast.<\/p>\n