Bristol and Levi aren’t the only strange love story to come out of Alaska – there’s also Cindy Lou Johnson’s 1989 play Brilliant Traces. Not exactly a black comedy, this strange and fantastic take on the traditional love story nonetheless mixes humor with anguish to examine what happens when grown-ups run away from home. The adventures start as a wind-blown young woman comes knocking on a single man’s cabin door during a blizzard. Of course, we are tipped off right away that something weird is going on, since she shows up in full bridal regalia. (Seems she’s run off from her big day back in Arizona and has somehow wound up in Alaska.) The man’s got his own troubles and isn’t exactly ready for visitors, but he lets her in anyway. Over the next 90 minutes, the two characters discuss the many difficulties involved in romantic relationships, revealing the pain that has brought them to the Alaskan wilderness along the way. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. October 28 and 2 p.m. October 24. Country Playhouse, 12802 Queensbury. For information, call 713-467-4497 or visit www.countryplayhouse.org. $20.
Fridays, Saturdays. Starts: Oct. 15. Continues through Oct. 30, 2010
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.