BrightestYoungThings: PLAY DC: "Time Stands Still" @ The Studio Theatre.

The emotional toll of combat, particularly among journalists and photographers, has recently become a popular topic to explore. Thrillers like The Hurt Locker and The Bang Bang Club are more visceral, using pulse-pounding footage to show why certain people always return to war zones. Documentaries like Restrepo and Hell and Back Again are relatively sensitive to how ordinary soldiers cope with their duty, as well as its aftermath. With Time Stands Still, the new production at The Studio Theatre, playwright Donald Margulies joins the fray of like-minded writers. His sharp, empathetic drama is all aftermath. Though war journalism is the agency for tension among the characters, understated marital drama is the source of its impact.

The stage is a smart Brooklyn apartment, complete with retro prints and a kitchen island. James (Greg McFadden), a journalist, and his photographer girlfriend Sarah (Holly Twyford) are returning from a trip abroad. One look at Sarah and it is easy to understand why James dotes on her. Red laceration marks dot one side of her face. She walks with a slow limp and uses a crutch for support, while the other arm is in a cast. We learn she was the victim of a roadside bomb attack, one that killed her interpreter. Through uneasy small talk and a finger of scotch, the couple tries to assimilate to post-war life.

James is not the only who cannot hide his concern for Sarah. A few days pass, and her editor Richard (Dan Illian) arrives alongside his new girlfriend Mandy (Laura C. Harris). The farcical sparring between the two couples adds a much-needed injection of comedy. Mandy lacks the intellectualism and cynicism of the other three characters – she’s an event planner who uses nature documentaries to understand Sarah’s trauma – and her youth only deepens the divide. Sarah shocks the group when she announces plans to go back to the Middle East. Richard thinks the risk is senseless, and while James shares his concern, his thoughts turn to their relationship. The circumstances surrounding Sarah’s injuries are thornier than they seem, and threaten to undo the nine years she and James have been in love.

Topical, contemporary dramas have conditioned me to expect melodrama or a transgressive coda, so I was surprised by Margulies’ masterful command of tone. The tension remains steady and true. Margulies trusts the audience will grow to care about the characters by maintaining a consistent air of plausibility. The dialogue is also similarly realistic; it is well-written without calling attention to itself. There are a few monologues – James drunkenly rails against liberal guilt, for example – and all the rants (including his) are organic, so they aren't too theatrical. Arguments are never unnecessarily mean-spirited; instead, the characters try to work through their impasses to arrive at mutual understanding. By eschewing grand moments, I slowly grew to care about what happens to these four people. And with seemingly effortless work, the choices by the set/lighting designers also reflect this realism.

The chemistry among the four actors always feels natural, even when the audience registers how Mandy is different from the other three. Harris serves as the emotional/moral compass for the play; her comic peppiness grows into warm empathy, and the smooth transition is an important antithesis for the problems between James and Sarah. Richard is older than the other characters, and his self-aware justification of his relationship with Mandy comes to define him. Illian takes a prototypical character, adding the correct amount of affectation and charm. Later, when Richard and James have a hostile disagreement over an article James wrote, Illian ably crystallizes journalism’s tension between fluff and substance.

Given the characters’ experience, James and Sarah are wearier than the other couple, and their growing disagreements are the play’s fulcrum. Twyford and McFadden rarely raise their voices or oversell their characters’ emotions, yet the depth of feeling is plain to see. Twyford, the only actor not making a debut at the Studio, combines a gruff attitude with vulnerable physicality (her depiction of Sarah’s injury is believably frail). I suspect, however, most will identify with McFadden’s take as James. His emotional needs are more universal than Sarah’s, and the way he articulates them is heartbreaking. The back-and-forth between James and Sarah reaches an apex during the second act, and his unlikely metaphor for their disagreement is plainspoken enough, so there is no trouble understanding its meaning.

Early in the play, Sarah says her focus on her camera helps her forget about the chaos of a war zone. Importantly, this adrenaline-driven high is both logical and apolitical. Sarah uses the importance of her work (i.e. documenting atrocities) to justify her return to combat, but Margulies and director Susan Fenichell chip away at this line of reasoning until they find Sarah’s unrepentant addiction. Her line made me think of my interview with Sebastian Junger, journalist and co-director of Restrepo. I asked him what it was like to film a firefight, and he plainly told me, “There wasn’t much any of us could do, so I just focused attention on my camera. It’s a lot scarier being in combat without a camera or something to do." Months later, Junger’s co-director and friend, combat photographer Tim Hetherington, died while covering the Libyan Civil War. His fate and Sarah's dedication remind us that a camera, despite serving as a journalists' totem of comfort, cannot slow a roadside bomb, or a mortar.

Time Stands Still is at The Studio Theatre until February 12. Buy tickets here!

Brightest Young Things

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PLAY DC: "Time Stands Still" @ The Studio Theatre.

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Alan Zilberman!