Characters try to make connections in engaging premiere of ‘Paralyzed’ at FST

About a third of the way through Etan Frankel’s “Paralyzed” in Florida Studio Theatre’s Stage III series, I began thinking I might need or want to see the play a second time to better understand how the two stories being told come together and interconnect, as I suspected they would by the end.

The play features a female statistician in her late 30s and a younger man who have nothing in common other than that her name is Leigh and his is Lee, and they both grew up in towns called Greenville, but in different states.

For a long while the audience listens to them talk about their lives. We know there’s something important that links them, which Frankel eventually reveals, for reasons I won’t share here to preserve surprises future audiences might enjoy.

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He may take a little too long in this 100-minute intermission-less play to get to the connection, adding more details than we need to know. But the individual stories and performances are humorous, touching and engaging along the way.

Frankel’s play, a world premiere that was delayed three years because of the pandemic, is a series of interwoven monologues delivered by two lost people trying to figure out how to achieve some of their goals.

Leigh, played by Rachel Moulton, grew up as a minister’s daughter. After reading “The Diary of Anne Frank,” she decided to help as many people as she could. She became a statistician working for the International Monetary Fund during the period of the Rwanda genocide in the 1990s, but realized that as much as she wanted to do good, “I wasn’t helping the Anne’s of the world. I was helping the Adolf’s.” She wonders how the world is better off because of her existence.

Lee, played by Alexander Stuart, is a good ol’ Southern boy who shares his exploits as a high school football player and how that paid off with the girls at school, including one who became the love of his life. His college playing career was cut short when a defensive move during a scrimmage severely injured a teammate. He bolted and watched his dreams of an NFL career, family and comfort disappear.

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They are both stuck, unable to move on in their lives as they look for companionship, love and connections, like the one that actually brings them together near the play’s end – a suicide note that was found in a hotel bathroom.

Moulton’s Leigh is an open, honest, caring person who’s just a bit too shy for her own good. She doesn’t say much about her love life, though she is eager to meet men, and in one story, goes to almost humiliating lengths to find one she likes.

Stuart’s Lee is just the opposite. He’s living some guys’ high school dreams. But his “yee-haw’ exuberance and determination on the football field become muted after the “incident,” and he struggles through jobs, relationships and parenting.

We really get to know both characters through these performances and Meg Gilbert’s steady direction, though it feels a little off when they finally meet and anger and confusion explode. I can’t presume to know how these characters would feel or express themselves, but Leigh’s screaming at Lee feels like an overreaction.

It’s a key moment that shatters what we’ve come to expect or know, but doesn’t take away from a story that draws you in, makes you curious and eventually provides some satisfaction and answers.

‘Paralyzed’

By Etan Frankel. Directed by Meg Gilbert. Reviewed April 1. Runs through April 21 in Florida Studio Theatre’s Bowne Lab, 1265 First St., Sarasota. Tickets are $25. 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Review: Characters seek better lives s in engaging premiere at FST