THE STORY: The place is a secondhand shop in rural Tennessee, the time the recent past. Wallace, the middle-aged owner of the shop, is about to bid a reluctant farewell to his long-time lady friend, Claudia, who is going off to Canada to care for her ailing sister. Both Wallace and Claudia have been previously married and while everyone in town (including their own children) is aware that they are a perfect match, Wallace, particularly, seems unable to articulate his true feelings. Counterpointing the relationship of these reluctant lovers is the affair between Wallace’s son and Claudia’s daughter—a much lustier arrangement, but, in its own way, marked with equal indecisiveness. The interplay of these four very believable and endearing people, abetted by the hilarious woes of a recently widowed friend, leads on to the cleverly devised resolution of the play—where things are set right in a most unexpected and theatrically inventive manner.
Set in a small town in eastern Tennessee, this lively, warm-hearted play treats love among the young, and not so young, with gentle humor and perceptive understanding. “Of all the Ketron plays I’ve seen or read, it struck me as the most substantial, lucid, and attractively written…” —Village Voice.
“This artful charmer is an offbeat love story about two longtime friends too timid to become lovers.” —New York Post.
“…underneath the surface, lives are changing…the result is a welcome act of theatrical congeniality.” —The New York Times.
