As a blizzard rages outside of an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness Henry Harry is jarred out of his sleep by the insistent knocking of an unexpected visitor. He opens the door to find Rosannah DeLuce, distraught and in full bridal regalia, who’s driven 3000 miles to escape her impending marriage. Exhausted from the journey she relies upon Henry’s mercy for shelter. Thrown together in the confines of a snow bound cabin, they alternately repel and attract each other as, in highly charged and frequently hilarious exchanges, they explore the pain of the past and, in time, consider the possibilities of the present.

David Newer directs Faust Checho*and Lisa Fernandez* in Cindy Lou Johnson’s 1989 play first presented by Circle Rep at Cherry Lane Theatre. *(Member of Actors Equity)

Frequently seen on stage and screen Faust Checho’s TV credits include HBO’s Homeland, USA’s Royal Pains and A&E’s Those Who Kill. Among his movie credits are the feature films “The Fields” (starring with Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman), “Proxy” (world premiere at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival) and the indie crime thriller “Dead Draw” with Gil Bellows and Michael Ecklund.

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 fig …Read more