The Long Reunion actually contains five special, funny, sometimes frazzled meetings of three friends after their high school class reunions for a 25th anniversary of their graduation. Then and every tenth year afterward, each meeting also draws the friends closer in a different way—into a dangerous environment. In their riverside restaurant meeting place, the friends first gather for their 25th year after leaving Manatee High. Their personalities apparently haven’t changed, but circumstances have. This also holds true for their waitress (Brenna Griffin, suitably haughty as three generations of her family’s young women in the job). Though Jimmy and Daisy once had a brief fling, he’s already been divorced with kids and, despite being mostly broke, still a flirt. Dominant actor Eldred Brown is irrepressible even after momentary breakouts of Jimmy’s downside. Daisy’s already been the divorce route more than once, but what really bothers her (amid many snarky observations Jennifer Eddy Kwiatkowski is effective at delivering) is that she was a cheerleader but not the head one at the High. She likes dolling up and has a neck tattoo. Billy’s relatively happy marriage and fatherhood have him watching his pennies, since he’s degreed but “only” a private school English teacher. In subsequent meetings, their stories continue in the same vein but with loosened societal prescriptions. Daisy (what a shock!) tried out a gay affair. Though at each meeting they wear the same lettered tee shirts, their hats and accessories change along with sight and mobility aids. Their personalities mark even these changes. Environmental differences proceed at the same pace, affecting the location of their table and the lighting of their restaurant and what they order to eat or drink. Not only are the costume designs well chosen but also the sounds of music, indoor background, the river, and outside atmosphere. The actors do a wonderful job of using or discarding bits of their outfits to affect their aging and reactions to it in very short blackouts between scenes. Simple props, like cameras and headphones, also appear as various representations of passing time. Mark Woodland’s direction strikes all the right notes, as the play goes into different tones. That’s because the final meeting incorporates a prediction of the future, unlike the play’s previous ventures into the past and present. It would be interesting to stage The Long Reunion in another ten years with editing or an addition to justify or contradict the play’s views, especially its implicit warnings.
