“Lifeline” and “Brownstone” reviewed

When I first read about the subject of Robert Axelrod’s Lifeline, I thought it was going to be about the stress of working at a suicide hotline center and was expecting it to be a very depressing experience. Thankfully, that assumption was proved largely wrong – it’s about the training one receives to work in such an environment, and more specifically it addresses the complexities of the LGBTQIA+ community. The world premiere by The Road Theatre Company is entertaining, well-acted and frequently moving, if perhaps a tad overstuffed with thematic issues to be explored.

Drew (Tommy Dickie) and Jen (Brittany Visser) are teaching prospective suicide hotline counselors in an LGBTQIA+ center a monthlong preparation course for the job. Their students include Maya (Xoë Sazzle) and Kai (Clifton J. Adams), two black people who feel that they are a “minority within a minority,” the aggressively woke Sarah Beth (Naomi Rubin) and older straight woman Patti (Amy Tolsky). As the weeks go on, the group learns how to do the work but mainly learns how to work successfully with each other.

Dickie does terrific work as the outwardly chipper Drew, who’s secretly stressed about the center’s diminishing funds. Adams is charismatic and funny as Kai, who describes himself as having a “Gryffindor heart and a Slytherin aesthetic,” bringing bright energy to the proceedings. Rubin is superb as the somewhat exasperating Sarah Beth, who is forever correcting everyone else’s attempts at political correctness. Sazzle’s performance impresses with a very moving scene about Maya’s experience of the Pulse nightclub tragedy. Finally, Visser and Tolsky are both amazing, especially in one of the most powerful scenes in the play as they share raw anger and sincere grief about a shared trauma.

Ken Sawyer’s direction is fluid and creative, and he gets excellent work from his entire ensemble. I’m not certain if the environmental staging, in which a quarter of the audience are seated onstage, is strictly necessary, but that’s a quibble. Sawyer’s sound design is detailed and continually adds resonance to the show. Axelrod’s writing is smart, working equally well in dramatic or comedic moments. It feels like he’s trying to cover a lot of topics in a short amount of time, however, and the play might improve somewhat from a tightening of focus.

Catherine Butterfield’s Brownstone is a clever piece of structure to tell three different stories, but it doesn’t quite come together as a cohesive play. That being said, the new production by Open Fist Theatre Company is largely successful, with two of the three storylines working very well, and the third not quite succeeding due to less convincing writing.

The plot takes place in the same brownstone building in New York City in three different time periods. The first story is set in 1937, in which Davia (Chelsea Spirito), the artist daughter of a domineering rich man (who owns the entire building), meets and falls for journalist Stephen (Matthew Goodrich). The second story is in 1978, when the building has been converted to smaller apartments, and two aspiring actresses, Deena (Rosie Byrne) and Maureen (Amber Tiara), are trying to make it on Broadway. The final story is set in 1999, in which commodities broker Jason (Isaac W. Jay) and advertising exec Jessica (Jade Santana) discover the struggles of family versus career.

Spirito manages to make her mannered character (“Oh, you have to have dust ruffles!”) emotionally affecting, but Goodrich can’t quite bring Stephen to life (he’s much more successful as late-arriving David). Tiara is amusing and believable as Maureen, and Byrne is quite good as Deena, who goes from professional jealousy to something sadder. Jay is terrific as the selfish Jason, and Santana brings both tenderness and ferocity to her excellent performance as Jessica.

Director Ron West does a nice job seamlessly transitioning from one era to another from scene to scene. Two set pieces work exceptionally well. The first scene includes songs from each era, and when all the characters are brought onstage simultaneously, the three songs are all played on top of each other, as if time didn’t exist and everything is happening at once. The second, and better, bit of directing business shows three of the characters singing the same tune, but in three different time periods, each singing different notes of the music to combine into one unified piece. It implies more of a connection between the three women than the play does, unfortunately.

Butterfield’s writing is quite good, but the quality of the three stories is uneven. The 1937 tale feels somewhat stiff and unconvincing, as if more taken from how people acted in old films than life. The other two stories feel much more effective. I wish the play had been more about the connections between these disparate characters, or even about the building itself, but Brownstone is interesting and entertaining regardless.

Lifeline is presented by The Road Theatre Company at The Road Theatre and plays through March 1, 2026.  Tickets are available at –  https://ci.ovationtix.com/35065/production/1258741.

Brownstone is presented by Open Fist Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre and plays through Feb. 28, 2026. Tickets are available at https://www.openfist.org/