Ryan Barry, DeLance Minefee, and Jeena Yi. Photo: Stan Barouh

By DCist Contributor Rachel Kurzius

“What’s your name? I noticed you” could be the beginning of a meet-cute at the high school lockers or a threat made in lock-up. In Lights Rise on Grace, the world premiere by Chad Beckim currently playing at Woolly Mammoth, introductions with precisely the same language take on different meaning as circumstances and characters change, always with a finely-tuned sense of who has power in that moment.

The first time the audience hears this exchange, it’s Large (DeLance Minefee) introducing himself to Grace (Jeena Yi). He is a gregarious and goofy black teenager with a brother and father who mercilessly mock him for being a sissy. She is a second-generation Chinese immigrant with strict parents. Minefee and Yi play this scene delightfully—he’s all friendly prodding while she tentatively blossoms under his watching eyes.

This first meeting has extra weight because we already know that the relationship ends with Large disappearing for six years without warning, leaving Grace desperate. The metal gates that adorn the stark set clank into place—Large is in prison, where he meets Riece (Ryan Barry). This fellow prisoner protects and cares for Large, and the two forge an intimacy that resembles a romantic partnership. When Large gets out, he finds Grace and the two become a couple again. It wasn’t easy the first time around, but now things are far more challenging. The six years have changed them. Riece is also released from prison, and becomes a part of the couple’s life. The three of them form a family, which Large describes as a “knot.”

In canny direction from Michael John Garcés, the actors remain on stage throughout the entire show, demonstrating how intertwined their lives have become. Often, one character will speak directly to the audience, while the other two skulk around the borders, change around the gates on set, or take on the parts of people in their reminiscences (these bit parts provide some levity and shows the actors’ range). They loom large over one another’s memories.

While the actors switch characters and locations frequently, it never gets confusing. This is thanks in large part to sound design by James Garver, which immediately locates the audience in a school with the murmuring of students or a jail by the shouting and slamming of cell doors.

It is refreshing to see these relationships on stage, particularly the nuanced one between Large and Riece. For all of the wisecracks comedians make about prison sex, clear, beautiful writing and empathetic acting convey that this pair truly cares for one another, even if that coupling complicates any of the characters’ dreams for a “normal” life.

The tragedy that befalls Grace, Large, and Riece is that, as they seek love, they often let shame and fear derail them. Lights Rise on Grace traces the years of hurt that compound to make people lash out at others. The more they need affection, the harder it seems for them to attain. That’s what makes the moment of mercy at the play’s end so powerful. It’s not a happy ending—the set-up makes that an impossibility—but it’s a hopeful one.

Lights Rise on Grace plays at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre through April 26. Tickets are $20-93.