Comeuppance
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Eric Ting
Signature Theatre
July 8, 2023
Production website
out of 5.

Comeuppance really had me worried in the first few moments. Any play that begins with a character speaking directly to the audience and pretending to be “death” seems to be going down the wrong tedious path. I had very low expectations. Once the play moved through this monologue, however, I was very surprised as to how wonderful it was.  A group of 30-somethings were gathered on the porch of the central characters house, all doing a bit of a pre-game libations before they go to the 20th high school reunion. The characters were so rich and interesting. They had the most complicated and interesting of relationships. I quickly forgot about the death character!  The play then speaks of how they all survived the Columbine shootings, the war in Baghdad, 9/11 and even the January 6 march against the capital. But most importantly, how they all survived the Covid nightmare.