New York Magazine - USA (2019-12-09)

126 newyork| december9–22, 2019

plays’normcore otherworldlinessand

madesomethingdeliberatelymild:He’s

lookinglongandlightlyata life,ratheras

ThorntonWilderwould.

We firstmeet Chrisasa tiny baby, not

quite3 monthsold.Hismother(Hannah

Cabell)lookslovinglyovertheedgeofhis

bassinetandworriesaboutthe“click”his

backstartedmakingafterhisdadflew

himaroundtheroom.Hisfather(How-

ardOvershown)reassuresher:“Things

justdon’t startoutofnowhere.”Well,

they do. Abruptly, a new set slides into

view, and Chris (Nicholas Hutchinson) is

now 10 years old. The boy talksmatter-

of-factly about his love of diving(it feels

like flying) and how he doesn’t remem-

ber his father’s death since it happened

when he was a baby.

Another new room glides onstage,

and we’re in a hospital. But nowChris—

still with a tricky back, still with a love of

diving—is Christine, a girl of roughly 13

(Isabella Russo). Chris hasn’ttransi-

tioned; we are at the next part of Chris’s

story, and certain ... details have simply

changed. Cabell now plays Chris’s aunt,

and Overshown is a doctor, tired but

charmed by Chris’s pert humor. He asks

if she knows what the philtrum, that

groove between our nose and lips, does.

Nothing, it turns out—it’s just where the

two halves of our face grew togetherin

the womb. Why has he told herthis?“I

don’t know, you’re a smart kid,”hesays.

“Insert a helpful metaphor. ‘It allcomes

together in the end.’ ”

Chris proceeds through existencein

these little hops. In deft, smallscenes

that are usually about the chancebegin- PHOTOGRAPH: JOAN MARCUS

Denise Burse

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