In CAST’s latest two-hander, vulnerability, intimacy, and pain are central to this unconventional love(?) story spanning decades I’ve always been fascinated by the proverbial “invisible string.” That is, people inextricably being bound together by some higher force, which leads them to eventually, constantly, find each other and cross paths throughout their lives. Taylor Swift , in her song of the same title, explains it as such: “Time, mystical time / Cutting me open, then healing me fine / Were there clues I didn’t see? / And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?” Equally intriguing is the idea of soulmates, or people having a deep and natural affinity, an intense connection.
While neither concept is explicitly mentioned in the play “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph, I can’t help but think of it while watching the events of Doug and Kayleen’s lives unfold and intertwine. “Gruesome Playground Injuries” is currently being staged by the Company of Actors in Streamlined Theatre (CAST) , starring the company’s long-time collaborators Topper Fabregas and Missy Maramara. Nelsito Gomez directs this powerful two-hander.
If there’s any simple way to describe the show, it is that it’s incredibly vulnerable (on both the actors’ and the characters’ ends), intimate, and bittersweet. Painfully beautiful, too. The play takes us through a timeline of Doug and Kayleen’s lives, fro.