2 Across

by Jerry Mayer

Two strangers, a man and a woman (late 40's to middle 50's) board a San Francisco BART train at 4:30 AM. They're alone in the car, each is married, both are doing the New York Times crossword. She's an organized, sensible, psychologist. He's a free spirited, unemployed ad exec. She is a crossword pro, he always quits. When he tosses his puzzle away, she snaps, "Crosswords are a metaphor for life, those who finish, succeed, those who don't, fail." Now he vows to finish. Why? He's a competitor and she happens to be lovely. This starts an 80 minute ride described by critics as "Hilarious," "Witty," "Romantic," "Poignant," "Wonderfully entertaining." Two opposites in an enclosed space, attacking each other's values but also being swayed and intrigued by them. They each have serious life problems that the other helps them solve. Their trip is filled with unpredictable but believable surprises, even a passionate kissing embrace or two. As the train ride ends it's obvious each of them has been changed for the better. And we're all dying to know if these two will meet again?

55 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tiffany Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute 2 person show about lives intersecting on a commute -- would be fabulous to use for a reader's theater. 3 1/2+ stars

[Tony Loyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but not hilarious which I think is important for comedic plays nowadays. The characters are fun and in the hands of the right actors can be fairly likeable and humourous but there is a lot of pressure as the content isn't very strong and for a good portion of the play, the audience is led to believe the characters are about to engage in affair, which greatly hurts their likeability. Not my favourite comedy by far but inoffensive and fairly sweet. What I call popcorn theatre.