Brilliant Traces, written by Cindy Lou Johnson and directed by David Newer, is a love story set in a remote cabin in Alaska during a whiteout between a woman who is running away because she doesn’t want to become indistinguishable and a man who is hiding away because he believes he hurts the people he gets close to. This two-hander, performed by Faust Checho and Lisa Fernandez, asks a great deal from the performers, and along with a very clean design by Josh Iacovelli, the effort of the two actors is commendable.
Brilliant Traces begins with Rosannah, played by Fernandez, unexpectedly at Henry’s house in the middle of the night, wearing a white wedding dress with gold satin shoes. Henry and Rosannah then get to know the intimates of each other; we learn about their fears and their history, and they come to love each other, or at least be the comfort the other one needs.
The script, as a story, would be much more at home as a novel, or some sort of film. Henry and Rosannah are much more the drives that move people, than developed people themselves. The trajectories of the characters move at the story's whim, not the emotional moment of the people, so they seem to arrive at a new figurative place and not belong there. While the key elements of their character histories are expressed well in vivid monologues — why Henry has become a recluse and, of course, why Rosannah is in a wedding dress — the characters never fulfill the depth the parlor room drama form requires. This is because the script does not allow the characters to be together in any meaningful way. Rosannah and Henry clumsily trade off diatribes and, while one character will comment on the other's plight, the comment is consistently facile, the kind of observation the house could easily make themselves that add no real texture to the characters.
The script has a great many elevated emotional moments, which is challenging to perform well, and Fernandez and Checho each have long segments that are effective and are internally sound; that is no small task and they should be commended for it. Their work, and looking out for their successes, is the best part of the evening.
