Ideals crash into reality in ‘The Briefest Year’

BY RACHEL deARAGON | “The Briefest Year” gives the audience a glimpse into the meanings of marriage, love and commitment as the ideals, lies and romanticism of youth come face to face with the passions and compromises of middle age.

It all begins with a date — a lighthearted pickup at a concert where drummer Charley (Cain Duminski) meets Bridget (Elizabeth Ruf). As the plot unwinds, the three protagonists confront their expectations of each other and, more profoundly, of themselves.

In the recent production at the East Village’s Theater for the New City, Duminski moved convincingly from the boastful older rocker to the broken, exed-out husband as he confronts his estranged wife, Miko (Kishiko Hasegawa). He embodied the contradictions between the way we see ourselves and the ways we want to be seen.

As the characters find themselves caught in webs of regrets, losses and aspirations for the future, Bridget becomes more and more anchored in the realities.

The setting — Bridget’s living room, artsy and bohemian — served well as a minimalist outdoor setting.

Lola Lukas played the Cop.

Marsh Sugart (lighting) and Lucas (also the stage manger) maintained the visual balance.

Music has brought Bridget and Charley together, and music asserts meaningful connectivity throughout the piece. Karl Batemen, the lead guitarist for the Head Peddlers, provided live soundscape — guitar and sound effects. Ruf, guitarist and vocalist for the Head Peddlers, as Bridget, charmed Charley and the audience with her melodic soprano.

Teaming up to write “The Briefest Year” were Batemen, Ruf and Claude Solnik.

With this production, Theater for the New City once again brought forward new energy. Elizabeth Ruf, who directed and did the production’s design, captured that mission in assembling her cast. Cain Duminski, new to TNC, and returning actor Kishiko Hasegawa are welcome additions to the theater. “The Briefest Year” evocatively reflects the moment in time between our pasts and the hesitancy with which we may shape our futures.