With its next mainstage production, Key West’s Red Barn Theatre takes on the intersection of science and faith, the unknown and the human condition – with humor and emotion.
“A Rock Sails By,” by playwright Sean Grennan, runs March 31 through April 25, with all curtains at 7:30 p.m.
The play explores the great questions of our time: Is there life beyond our planet? What happens after death? Why is life, in all its beauty, filled with fear, anger and hatred? And perhaps one of the most complicated of questions: What’s the point?
“A Rock Sails By” tells the story of an astrophysicist, Lynn Cummings, who, while investigating a mysterious interstellar object nearing earth, finds herself dealing with personal grief, physical and mental decline, challenges to her professional reputation and a disconnect with her daughter. She’s always believed in science, but as her life changes, the certainty that was once a source of comfort has become a source of emptiness. How she deals with the collision of all these new elements in her life is what gives the play its heart.
Playwright Grennan recently told a reporter, “In 2017, I read a news article about an odd object that was flying through our solar system. It had come from outside our galaxy, which was very unusual. Its Hawaiian name – ‘Oumuamua’ – translates to ‘Messenger from our distant past.’” That got Grennan thinking about what it might be and what it could mean to mankind. “I’d been thinking about mortality – friends are passing, I’m wearing out, fewer days ahead than behind – so I wanted to explore all of that.”
Cummings does the same in the play, as she navigates her personal challenges. Mimi McDonald, Red Barn’s managing director, portrays Cummings. She’s accompanied by Susannah Wells, Lauren Thompson, Jody Orrigo, Glenda Donovan and Fritzie Estimond. The play is directed by Joy Hawkins.Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com or by from box office at 305-296-9911. There will be an after-party for all ticketholders on opening night.
