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Submitted by Rebekah Finn for Harlequin Productions

With a title reminiscent of a typical week in the Puget Sound area, I was somewhat expecting the latest play at Harlequin Productions to be a bit grey—maybe intense and thought-provoking, but not necessarily happy. Imagine my surprise on the night of the final dress rehearsal, when I came face-to-face with what turned out to be a heartwarming love story. Still intense and thought-provoking as I was expecting, but also full of delightful surprises.

Three Days of Rain, written by Richard Greenberg, begins with the character of Walker (played by Fox Rain Matthews) and his sister Nan (played by Alyssa Kay) exploring the old apartment where their father Ned Janeway and his partner Theo Wexler began their famous architecture career thirty-five years earlier. Walker has spent days in this otherwise unoccupied space, willing the walls to talk, screaming “Speak!” at them in hopes of learning about his father, who apparently didn’t speak much. Finding Ned’s old journal doesn’t reveal much either, but that doesn’t stop Walker from interpreting its content to confirm his own theories.

When Nan and Walker’s childhood friend, Theo’s son Pip (played by Luke Sayler), joins the conversation, even more revelations and assumptions are made. It’s often true that those closest to us get to see both the best and the worst in our characters, and that is certainly true for these three, who grew up so closely connected by their parents’ relationships.

As the adult children learn of Ned’s will and figure out how to deal with it together, they also fill the audience in on the background of their families from their perspectives.

“Hindsight is 20/20, we say. You can look back with crystal clarity and judge really easily, but that doesn’t mean you’re right,” director Aaron Lamb reflects. “It doesn’t mean what you’re judging is the real story.”

And so, in Act II, we are taken back to 1960 to see the real story from the perspective of the parents, Ned, Theo, and Lina, played by the same three actors who played the children. The moments and decisions that we hear about in Act I come to life as three thirty-year-olds try to figure themselves and each other out. Just as the three children are doing in Act I, the parents also are grappling with being adults, building careers, and navigating relationships.

“In this show, we see real people earnestly and honestly trying to live the best they can,” explains Lamb. “And the mistakes they make are just mistakes. It’s so easy to see those mistakes in the future as something horrible, but they’re just what we do as humans.”

This show is about what is spoken and what is left silent between family members. It is about the stories we tell each other and ourselves in the moment before things begin, and in all the moments that come after. It is about the value of words and voids, and how futures and memories are shaped. It is a story about love and what binds people together. It will leave you thinking about the stories in your own family, the great loves you’ve had in your life, and the way your stories shape your children. It will leave you curious about everything you’ve assumed as fact. It will leave you hopeful for the stories that have happened and that are happening around you.

If the personal enjoyment and intellectual stimulation doesn’t sell you on this show, come to support your local artist community. Harlequin Productions has been an artistic cornerstone of downtown Olympia for almost thirty years and looks forward to many more years of providing a place where artists can learn and grow together, while creating world-class entertainment for local audiences.

In addition to Associate Director Aaron Lamb and the cast of talented actors, Three Days of Rain is made possible by the talents of the following people:

  • Jeannie Beirne, Scenic Design
  • Lucy Gentry-Meltzer, Costume Design
  • Olivia Burlingame, Lighting Design
  • Marko Bujeaud, Video Design
  • Gina Salerno, Sound Design
  • Jeff Leigh, Properties Design
  • Melissa Harris, Stage Manager
  • Thomas McGee, Asst. Stage Manager

To find out more about this show, order your tickets, and get your subscription for Season 28, visit harlequinproductions.org, or call the box office at 360-786-0151.

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