Elizabeth Pierotti and Audrey Bertaux star as mother and daughter in Well at 1st Stage in Tysons Corner, Va. The autobiographical show bounces between past and present, comedy and seriousness. Photo by Teresa Castracane

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Well, now. How to describe Well — the quirky, perspective-shifting, serio-comic play from New York actor and writer Lisa Kron? That, as they say in the theater, is the question. 

It’s sort of a play-within-a-play, but it’s more intricate than that. The Lisa character tells us we’re seeing a “multi-character theatrical exploration.”

Engaging with the audience

The six cast members don’t just break the “fourth wall” between actor and audience, they demolish it, stomp on the rubble, and then play with the pieces. Dialogue is sharp, incisive.

Lisa — Bertaux — talks to us in a pool of light in a neutral space, still the monologist. At other times, she is engaging with (the memory of) her mom, or with the increasingly confused actor-characters playing people from her life.

Her mom, alive in memory, occupies center stage, in a hyper-realistic version of an overstuffed living room. She’s mostly confined to a recliner and seems not all that well, physically.

Interestingly, Lisa’s space —while talking to us or dealing with people from her life or the actors playing them — is sterile and artificial. Just a few props in a barren space.

But Mom, or the memory of Ann Kron, is in the beautifully detailed living room designed by Luciana Stecconi. The psychological implications of that alone could take another few pages to explore.

We never meet Lisa’s dad, mentioned briefly as being present in the home. There’s a brother, too. So where are these men in her life? Maybe that’s another play.

Laura Artesi, Marquis D. Gibson, Lolita Marie and Howard Christian are the actors playing the actors playing a variety of people from Lisa’s life. Each offers carefully calibrated versions of reality as they switch perspectives of time and space. 

Artesi and Marie deserve special mention in their roles as two women Kron meets in an allergy clinic — two finely etched portrayals of women trying to cope with a physical challenge that can’t be pinned down (and may not even be real).

So, did this reviewer like this production? He liked it very much. Is it perfect? No. It’s really good, entertaining and thought-provoking.

But the kinetic nature of the shifting perspectives of time and reality do eventually dilute the messages just enough to take a slight toll on our ability to absorb them.

But does it work? Is it worth it? Absolutely, yes.

Well continues through April 23rd at 1st Stage, located at 1524 Spring Hill Rd., Tysons, Va.

Show times: Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices: $30 for adults, $27 for those 65 and older, and $15 for students and military members. There is general admission seating.

For tickets and information, call the box office at (703) 854-1856, or visit www. 1ststagetysons.org. You may also email the box office at boxoffice@1ststagetysons. org. 1st Stage is wheelchair accessible.