by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS
Harlequin Productions’ “Three Days of Rain,” opening May 3, is a subtle mystery — not a whodunit, but rather a “what happened and why.” Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer-nominated 1998 drama begins with a sister (Alyssa Kay) and brother (Fox Rain Matthews) and one of their childhood friends gathering to divide the legacy of their late fathers, partners in an architecture firm.
In Act II, set 35 years earlier in the same home, the same actors play their parents. Greenberg leaves space for the audience to find the connections between present and past. “It’s a lovely meditation on the way in which generations sometimes misunderstand one another,” Kay of Seattle said in a recent phone interview.
“It’s a wonderful challenge,” she said. “As an actor, you’re playing not just two different characters but different characters that are related to one another. It’s neat to get that multigenerational perspective.” It’s also a rare opportunity for Kay — previously seen in Harlequin’s “The 39 Steps,” “Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike” and “The Language Archive” — to share a stage with Matthews, her husband, who’ll be making his Harlequin debut.
“We’re very comfortable with each other,” she said. “We don’t have to take off that layer of unfamiliarity; we can just dive into rehearsals.” The play’s structure gives the couple a chance to build on one another’s work, she added.
WHAT Three Days of Rain
WHERE Harlequin Productions’ State Theater,
202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
WHEN 8 p.m. May 3-5, 9-12, 17-19 and 24-26 and 2 p.m. May 6, 13 and 20
HOW MUCH $20-$35 (May 9 is pay what you can)
LEARN MORE 360-786- 0151 | harlequinproductions.org