Fish Eye

Manhattan-set dramas about 20-somethings in love seem omnipresent on stage and screen. But what happens if you start at the end? Playwright Lucas Kavner rethinks the structure of young love by offering out-of-order snippets of a three-year relationship in his insightful new play "Fish Eye." With mostly deft direction by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, the play ultimately explores where love begins and ends—if it ever really can.

A smoke machine fills the intimate performance space with a gray haze as Kavner's chronological mishmash plays out from relationship end to relationship beginning, with a few switch-ups in between. Speaking sequentially, repressed musician Max (a goofy yet charming Joe Tippett) meets film student–turned–overworked production assistant Anna (Betty Gilpin) at a party and calls her immediately after, shocked that she gave him her real number. The relationship becomes serious almost too quickly, at least according to Avery (an emotional Katya Campbell), Max's high school friend who harbors a long-suppressed love for him. After three months, Max and Anna move in together. Then Anna's ex–college flame Jay (a dashing Ato Essandoh), now an environmental activist, moves in on Anna, planting critical seeds of doubt about her future career and persistently encouraging her to pursue her passions. On the surface, Max and Avery and Jay and Anna seem the more reasonable couples. The former struggle to follow their dreams, while the latter are seriously driven and would spur each other toward greatness. However, love often does not make sense, and the fiery chemistry between Gilpin and Tippett further validates the pairing of Max and Anna, making the inevitable heartbreak more real.

John McDermott's barren downtown-apartment set feels part bachelor pad and part antique store. Grant Yeager's multiple lighting cues, which signal the time transitions, work to the actors' and the director's advantage. The play weaves in and out of nonlinear scene progressions quite abruptly, and Campbell-Holt's direction steers the actors to their places effectively. At times there are characters from different scenes on stage simultaneously, which can be confusing; at other times, the visible character not involved in a scene provides a haunting figurative and literal presence.

"We are adults!" Max exclaims, with a hesitant inflection in his voice. The post-undergraduate years are a time when commitment is scary, career paths are unclear, and marriage equals death. Love, however, remains real. Unfortunately, it isn't always the answer. Or is it?

Presented by Colt Coeur as part of HEREstay at Here Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., NYC. June 2–18, Wed.–Sat. 7 p.m. (Additional performances Sun., June 5, and Tue., June 14, 7 p.m.) (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.here.org. Casting by Anne Davison.