The Unexpected Third

“Onward!”

What started as an email sign-off became a rallying cry, and then the

basis of Kathryn Grody’s magical show The Unexpected 3rd  at New York Theatre Workshop’s In the Bricks series. Over the course of ninety minutes Grody manages to take stereotypes of aging and smash them under her capable heel. She is not aging gracefully; Grody is aging in full, living color with fierce determination to face her third act with generosity of spirit, curiosity and an open heart; which is to be expected of a woman who firmly believes in joy and beauty as tools of resistance.

It was nimbly directed by Timothy Near and Grody makes use of every inch of the stage. Her physicality is not only impressive, but it also adds great life to her storytelling. She is

clearly at home on the stage and her command of the physical world around her

draw us deeper into her story. She has an easy rapport with the audience as she

ponders the question of how one continues onward if the past keeps getting in

the way

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The word most evoked by her presence is joyful, yet despite this she doesn’t shy away from the subjects of grief, physical limitations, or the complexity of long-term relationships.

She says of her Forty-Five-year marriage, “When I look at my mate, I see all the versions of him,” while acknowledging “We are a scarred pair,” who have “weathered the brutalities of intimacy.”

The Scenic design by Nina Bell, Lighting Design by Kat Tate Starmer, and Sound Design by Frederick Kennedy serve to bring us further into the ebullient chaos of her mind, and punctuate the transitions from subject to subject. Her frenetic humor serves to sharpen the show’s poignant moments, such as when she addresses her grief upon her brother’s death by asking “Would you rather have a broken heart or an unused one?”

The Unexpected Third is not an example of “Positive Aging” but of the power of

living with wonder no matter what stage of our lives we may be in. She brings us back to what is truly essential by asking the question “I wonder if our fear of the brevity of it all, takes away from the miracle that any of us even exist?” The Unexpected 3rd runs through June 14 th at New York Theatre Workshop’s In the

Bricks festival.

For Information visit New York Theatre Workshop's website here Review By Wendy-Lane Bailey