A ringing telephone has always been difficult to resist. Cell phones brought the enticement into public places.

At the start of Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Jean and a very still Norman are the only customers in a coffee shop. At first, Jean is annoyed by Norman’s failure to answer his repeatedly ringing phone. When she finally picks up the phone herself, she realizes Norman is dead.

Jean cannot resist being drawn into the possibilities that arise when she answers Norman’s phone. She goes to his funeral. She makes up last words that Norman wanted delivered to his family. It’s a very odd family, but Jean craves their acceptance.

Predictably in a play by Ruhl, the action is quirky, amusing, and unpredictable. As the action proceeds, the play grows increasingly fantastic. I was unsure how the pieces fit together as I was watching, but I enjoyed thinking about the questions raised by the play after it was over.

I cannot explain the allure of Norman’s life for Jean, but I believed in it fully thanks to the desperate longing and eagerness to please in Nicole Angeli’s compelling depiction of Jean. Nick Freed evinces yearning like Jean’s and ingratiating sweetness as Gordon’s brother Nick. He is a polar opposite of Gordon, who is brusque, self-serving, and unscrupulous in Ben Richie’s incisive portrayal. Lynett Vallejo captures the surface sheen hiding the shallowness of Gordon’s wife, Hermia. Payton Gillam is a hoot as Gordon’s mother, the other woman, and a stranger.

The production does not use the raised stage built into the north wall of the lower lever theater at the Union Avenue Christian Church. Instead, the action takes place on a low, square platform located where the audience usually sits. The audience is on three sides of the stage.

Summer Baer’s direction uses the flexibility of her own set design to present scenes set in a variety of locations. The umbrellas hanging from the ceiling are a witty touch. The production team’s contributions include Gabrielle Lynn’s props, Bryn McLaughlin’s sound, Renee Sevier-Monsey’s lighting, and Liz Henning’s costumes.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone continues through April 19 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Boulevard.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by John Lamb
From the left, Nicole Angeli Jean and Ben Ben Richie as Gordon in Dead Man’s Cell Phone.