Conversations With Miranda Provides an Evening of Reflection at PCS

by Laura Duffy

On Wednesday night, amidst flash flood warnings and fearsome bolts of lightning, I attended the world premiere of Gordon Prager’s Conversations With Miranda, produced by Zakarak Productions and performed at the Players Club of Swarthmore. This new work follows Miranda (Julianna Schauerman) and Stephen (Neill Hartley), a married couple who must navigate life across planes of existence – Miranda, in the afterlife, and Stephen, left behind in the physical world. Miranda must also make amends with her son, Robert (Matthew Carter), with whom her life ended on bad terms.

The production began promptly with no pre-show announcements, which was honestly refreshing. In the opening sequence, we are greeted by younger versions of Miranda and Stephen (played by Kieran McCarney and Joshua S. Gold respectively), who recite heartfelt poetry to one another. We then meet Miranda in the present, where she is trapped in Prager’s version of purgatory – a bleak, harsh environment where often blindingly bright spotlights isolate her from the rest of the stage. Through monologue, she determines that she must have some unfinished business left to complete in the human world (as ghosts often do). She calls out to Stephen, and we are transported back to her home and the loved ones she’s left behind.

Director Ed Robins, who also served as Lighting and Set Designer for this piece, has created the ultimate multi-purpose environment. Comprised of an upstage platform and several rotating panels, which line the wings, the set is able to accommodate limitless locations. Desks, pantry shelves, mirrors, and other various furniture items (including, eventually, tombstones) are simply swapped out on the backsides of each of the panels before turning them to face the audience. I thought this design, which was brought to life by Karly Steward, was ideal for the space.

As Act One continues, Miranda and Stephen reminisce about their past. Stephen, although somewhat baffled by Miranda’s reappearance postmortem, is altogether quite accepting of his new reality. Their son, however, is deeply worried about his father, as he can’t see Miranda and assumes that Stephen is starting to lose his mind. Robert consults an old therapist of his, Dr. Anna Young (Taleah Kennedy-Alston), who suggests that he try to discover more about his father’s encounters with his late wife. During this session, it is revealed that Robert calls his mother Miranda, as opposed to Mom, due to some sort of rift that occurred in the past. Robert explains that his parents hid his mother’s illness from him, likely due to his daughter’s own battle with cancer, in an attempt to shield him from worry.

Miranda continues to communicate with Stephen from beyond the veil, with intermittent appearances from Young Miranda and Stephen, who play out their memories from college and young adulthood. In one instance, Stephen is visited by a neighbor (Alicia Merriweather, also portrayed by Kennedy-Alston) who Miranda suspects has feelings for him. With Miranda’s otherworldly assistance, he successfully fends off Alicia’s advances.

Eventually, Robert’s therapy session comes to a head, and he uncovers a memory from his childhood in which he witnessed Miranda cheating on Stephen with his French teacher. Back in purgatory, Miranda confesses this same story to her keeper (God, or the judge of the afterlife, or whoever it may be). However, she must get through to Robert before she can be free of her sentence. Young Miranda reappears, and beckons Miranda forth as the first act comes to a close.

In Act Two, Stephen grows worried about Robert, who is clearly traumatized by the memory of Miranda’s affair but cannot bring himself to confess her wrongdoings to his father. Miranda eventually does so herself, as their younger selves watch on solemnly. Although initially resistant, Stephen forgives her after she conveys her everlasting love for him. Miranda is then finally able to communicate directly with Robert, appearing in his office at work after he repeats one of her often-used sayings. She is able to make amends with him as well, and the play concludes after Stephen and Robert release her into the next phase of the afterlife.

Julianna Schauerman delivered an impressive performance as Miranda. She was often tasked with moving the story and the other characters forward, which can be difficult, and she handled it gracefully. Neill Hartley was an audience favorite, effortlessly infusing Stephen with humor and heart. Their younger counterparts, portrayed by McCarney and Gold, were charming and made the most of their quite limited stage time.

Matthew Carter’s Robert was a lovable neurotic, and delivered an especially moving performance in the final few scenes (when he finally bore witness to his mother’s ghost, there was a definite Scrooge-ian quality to his character). 

Props should be given to Taleah Kenney-Alston for developing two extremely contrasting characters as Dr. Young and Alicia. Her Dr. Young was both firm and kind, while Alicia was completely over-the-top. At one point, Miranda compares her to Betty Boop, and Kennedy-Alston definitely took that characterization to heart.

In the program, playwright Gordon Prager notes that this play is inspired by personal experience. It is always a privilege to witness the result of such an endeavor. I did think that this piece explored some interesting and universally relatable topics – family conflict, mental health, betrayal, grief, and love. As I understand that this play went through several workshops before fully staging this production, I would be curious to discover the differences between the work that was presented and its original draft. The play was very monologue-heavy – characters often addressed the audience, either soliloquizing or through conversation with another character, for entire scenes. I would have been interested to see some of the events referenced in the show physically play out on stage, as opposed to being described. Since Young Miranda and Stephen were already present as characters, they could have been more often utilized for this purpose. Still, I am curious to see how this piece is further developed in the future. I noted several fellow audience members who were extremely moved by what they had witnessed, validating that at the center of the piece, there is a clear and definite beating heart.

Prop design by Denise Kolodziej was simple and helped to communicate the characters’ locations throughout the show. Costumes by Michael Lukowski were similarly effective, and used familiar color theory to reemphasize details about each character - for example, he dressed Miranda in black until she was finally able to repent, whereupon she changed into white.

The Light Board and Sound Board were run by Jennifer Brown and Autumn Scouten respectfully - this show often utilized light and sound not only as atmospheric enhancers, but true supporting characters of the story, so I commend their work. The entire production ran smoothly thanks to Production Stage Manager Michael Sokolowski, as well as Michael Lugowski, Nancy Reisen, Suzette Krausen, Colleen Scheb, who comprised the Running Crew.

Conversations with Miranda runs from now until July 12, with performances on July 11 at 7pm and July 12 at 1 pm & 7 pm. Tickets: https://pcstheater.org/zakarak-productions-presents-conversations-with-miranda/