‘Three Days of Rain’ has depth, mystery

by Karen Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, November 3, 2006
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 4, 2006

Above, from left, Michael Laurence as Walker, Eric Martin Brown as Pip and Sara Surrey as Nan in “Three Days of Rain,” playing now through Nov. 12 at the Studio Arena Theatre, 710 Main St. in Buffalo.

On the surface, the Studio Arena production of “Three Days of Rain” deals with three 30-somethings who have the look and feel of a dysfunctional family. They are Walker, his sister Nan, and lifelong friend, Pip.

Below the surface are the events and interactions of their parents. Through witty and biting dialogue, the audience is presented clues to unravel the mystery of how the parents’ choices in life and love have affected the offspring today.

The first act brings the three young adults together in 1995 in the Manhattan loft/office the architects shared. They are preparing to attend the reading of the will for Walker and Nan’s father, Ned, a legendary architect whose partner was Pip’s father.

The second act takes place 35 years earlier, and each of the actors plays the parent of their first-act characters.

Michael Laurence plays both Walker and his father, Ned. Sara Surrey plays Nan and her mother, Lina. Eric Martin Brown is Pip and his father, Theo.

Each of the actors is marvelous in their dual roles, but Laurence makes the most dramatic transition as an actor in playing the quixotic, manic-depressive Walker and his withdrawn, thoughtful father, Ned.

This complex and thought-provoking play by Richard Greenberg, plumbs the depths of the relationships, beautifully tracing the roots of their dysfunction to the generation that preceded them. It was first produced in 1997 off-Broadway, was a runner up for the Pulitzer Prize, and featured a Broadway run starring Julia Roberts this year.

The first act is very talky and slow-moving at the start. The action and the mystery pick up when Walker pulls out a recent discovery – a journal his father wrote. The young man is dismissive of the journal’s terse entries. The first one, “April 3-5: Three days of rain,” reveal nothing to Walker about the man who remains an enigma to him. “A weather report!” is how he characterizes his father’s apparently shallow scribblings. The words confirm his belief that his father’s emotions – if he had any – are unlikely to be revealed. He aches to know more – but burns the journal, as if to reject any further attempts at understanding his father.

Surrey, as Nan, reminds you of Julia Roberts in looks. She is cool, aloof and unsympathetic to her brother in the first act – all business and judgment. Neither the brother nor the sister presents a likeable character for the audience to identify with. Eric Martin Brown warms the action with an intensity and excitement that hints of the second act’s richer emotional content.

As Ned and Lina, the two actors generate a touching love story. The mother her children think of as hopelessly crazy is actually a muse to her husband the architect. Their father is revealed as capable of the deep emotions his children longed to hear expressed. Brown is intense again in the second act, driving the other two characters into action, but he is portraying a character without much confidence or insight of his own.

While the first act has you catching a glimpse of your watch now and then, the second act catches you caring deeply about the characters and what will happen to them.

Studio Arena’s new Artistic Director Kathleen Gaffney has accomplished a masterful directorial debut, ably assisted by an excellent cast and crew.