Strangers on a train

By Katie Reiser, The Isthmus

June 22, 2017

The Unexpected Man, a slight but charming play from French playwright Yasmina Reza (Art and God of Carnage), officially opened American Players Theatre’s 2017 season with a matinee performance in the Touchstone indoor theater on June 17.

The play serves as a perfect vehicle for APT core company members Brian Mani and Sarah Day. It can’t quite be described as a meet-cute scenario because even though two characters share a train car from Paris to Frankfurt, much of the play's tension is derived from the question of whether they will ever utter a word to each other. In the program they are simply called The Woman and The Man, but during the course of the play, we do learn their names. Mani is Paul Parsky, a novelist with plenty on his mind and Day is Martha, an avid fan of his work. In fact she has his latest novel, The Unexpected Man, in her tote bag. We hear their inner monologues as they sit across from each other. Both are intrigued by the other, but uncertain how to break the ice.

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