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Jan.
10 - Feb. 1, 2003 Playwright James Sherman, dubbed by one critic as Chicago's resident domestic jester, sets up a host of parallels in his buoyant romantic comedy. The two side-by-side apartments for the set are mirror images of each other and the story itself juxtaposes poetry and music, insecurity and self-confidence, as well as, two sets of parent and child. Charles and Isabel are middle-aged loners whose single parents are overwhelming forces in their lives. Charles lives alone with his music and books. Isabel, a poet newly separated from her husband, moves in next door and immediately puts her head in the oven. When Charles smells gas and dials 911, he inadvertently saves Isabel's life.
Isabel explains her half-baked suicide attempt with "I just turned 40, and my 50-year-old husband left me for a 20-year-old. You do the math." When Isabel's doting father arrives for a visit, he befriends Charles' mother, a friendship that quickly turns into a love connection. This leaves the door open for the younger couple to make their own connection. All in all, the play is a comic illustration of love's ability to blossom under unlikely circumstances.
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