There’s a lot going on in a double room at a cheap hotel near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, where two American strangers end up together for what might have been a casual one-night stand after meeting in the hotel bar. But Teddy and Jeremy, in search of a few hours of distraction and solace, are dealing with the devastating psychological and emotional impact of haunting secrets, trauma and guilt, friendship and love, sexual identity and homophobia, compassion and forgiveness in Ken Urban’s explosive 2017 drama A Guide for the Homesick, originally commissioned by Epic Theatre Ensemble and now playing a limited engagement at NYC’s DR2 Theatre.
The two-hander, directed with growing tension by Shira Milikowsky, moves back and forth between present real time and flashbacks to the recent past, to uncover the nagging thoughts, ambiguous relationships, and incidents from which the profoundly distressed characters seek escape. As the beers flow, Teddy, a professional in the world of finance, and Jeremy, on route home from a year of volunteer work at a medical clinic in Uganda, initially joke with each other about the likelihood of bugs in the bedcovers, engage in an awkward on-again-off-again will-they-or-won’t-they dalliance (the unsure Jeremy’s first with a man), then begin to open up to each other about themselves and the problems that brought them there, as the night builds to an intense climax.
McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger turn in deeply affectingly three-dimensional powerhouse performances as the very different Teddy and Jeremy, capturing their distinctive personalities, concerns, and reactions to each other and the unsettling events they’ve experienced (in simple costumes by David C. Woolard that suit the men and their actions). They also embody the figures from their reenacted pivotal memories, indicated by dramatic shifts in lighting (by Abigail Hoke-Brady) and character-defining changes in their demeanors and vocal patterns – Teddy’s absent friend Eddie, a close soon-to-be-wed straight colleague who came with him to Amsterdam for a pre-nuptial vacation but is nowhere to be seen; and Nicholas, a gay patient Jeremy befriended in Uganda, where rising socio-political protests violently clamored for “sodomy out of Africa” (it should be noted that the play is inspired in part by interviews the playwright conducted with volunteers from Doctors Without Borders, and the PTSD they suffered).
The modest hotel room (scenic design by Lawrence Moten III), featuring a central double bed and a door through which Eddie leaves and Jeremy repeatedly says he will, provides a realistic setting for the stellar deep-dive performances, as do the all-important props (by Patricia Marjorie) of cans of beer and a cell phone that keeps on ringing but Teddy refuses to answer (until he finally does), with sound (by Daniel Kluger) that also indicates the take-off and landing of planes at the nearby airport (which are not taken home by the troubled characters) and the loud rain and wind outside (a metaphor for the tempestuous deluge in which they find themselves).
Will Teddy and Jeremy find the understanding and redemption they so desperately need, or will their pain and isolation continue to torment them? Find out in this gripping, disturbing, and incisive production of A Guide for the Homesick.
Running Time: Approximately 85 minutes, without intermission.
A Guide for the Homesick plays through Sunday, February 2, 2025, at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $49-129, including fees), go online.
