Home Culture Review: The Net Will Appear {at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken}

Review: The Net Will Appear {at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken}

by Jennifer Tripucka
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With Broadway not far from Hoboken, it’s easy to overlook the amazing talent and quality theater we have right in our own backyards. That’s why when we went to see The Net Will Appear at Mile Square Theatre, we were reminded of just how talented and special our local professional theater company right in town is. Here’s a bit more about our time at the special, world-premiere of the touching play, The Net Will Appear, written by New Jersey playwright Erin Mallon, at the Mile Square Theatre — which has scheduled performances through Sunday, October 8th.

The play denotes an unlikely friendship that develops between two neighbors — on their rooftops, a 72-year-old man {played by Richard Masur} and a 10-year-old girl {played by Hoboken resident Matilda Lawler and her understudy Willa O’Connor}, save each other from their lonely worlds below. The show was truly a surprisingly humorous story filled with love, heart, and compassion — where two wonderfully eccentric people find true friendship.

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 Photo by Joe Epstein/JoeEpsteinPhotography.com

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If you’re wondering why Masur’s face looks so familiar, beard-clad and all, it’s because he’s starred in numerous TV shows, movies and on Broadway. Among the iconic films he has appeared in are Risky Business, IT (1990), and My Girl. On the small screen, Masur counts The Good Wife, Orange Is The New Black, The Practice, and Picket Fences among his credits.

 Photo by Joe Epstein/JoeEpsteinPhotography.com

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The pairing of an old Jim Beam-drinking curmudgeon Bernard and his young neighbor Rory is endearing and poignant. Bernard is a reclusive caregiver to his declining wife, a semi-invalid with dementia who still believes her 5-year-old daughter is alive — though she would have been 40 at the time. Rory has a short past and a long future, while he has a long past and short future, and through their four-season roof-developed relationship {yes, they’re actually perched on two roofs the entire time} across a chasm of air and height, one learns of the trials and tribulations of a school girl and an aged senior — the similarity and differences of new life and old. Even with just two characters throughout the entire evening, one could feel the tenderness and emotions from the relationship throughout the 90 minutes on stage. It would be easy to relate the experience to the peeling of an onion; slowly removing the layers of their experiences, past, and relationship in what forms to be an unforgettable and truly touching bond.

 Photo by Joe Epstein/JoeEpsteinPhotography.com

Will he keep his promise to Rory and remove the many mouse traps he placed on a towering tree in order to catch the song sparrows that wake him each morning? Will the family feel happiness even though Rory’s mom must alone change “the damn diapers” of their new baby? Will the father return home with her brother? Why do the police show up? Can a disparate relationship of sharing transform two lonely souls — even if their time together is short?

Photo by Joe Epstein/JoeEpsteinPhotography.com

The play runs now through Sunday, October 8 — Friday at 8PM, Saturday at 8PM, and Sunday at 3PM.

Tickets:
$30 Thursdays and Sundays
$40 Fridays and Saturdays

Students/Seniors: $18 all performances (except Wednesdays and Previews)

Mile Square Theatre is located at 1400 Clinton St. in Hoboken. For more information about the play or to order tickets, visit milesquaretheatre.org.

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