SHARON, now playing at Cygnet Theatre through July 2nd is a wonderfully acted, smart, and suspenseful world premiere that asks the question of family, and truth, and is full of dark humor.

Photo Credit: DeAnna Driscoll (left) and Rafael Goldstein in SHARON -Courtesy of Karli Cadel

The play opens in a messy, dilapidated apartment (wonderful and detailed scenic design by Yi-Chien Lee) that is part of the falling apart apartment building, with Jake (Rafael Goldstein) doing paint touch-ups briefly before it goes dark. When the lights come back we find Sharon (DeAnna Driscoll) in the kitchen prepping dinner with all the saccharine sweetness of a 1950’s sitcom mom and waiting for her son Jake to return home from work. But quickly, as the scene plays out and repeats as days go by, the audience realizes that there is something very off about this dynamic.

Their relationship is both meticulously scripted and wildly unplanned. Jake reacts badly to anything that doesn’t fit into his ideal narrative, and Sharon is clearly chaffing under the requirements of this partnership and testing those boundaries.

More variables to this are added by the addition of Tina (Keiko Green) a girl that works with Jake who strikes up a relationship with him, and Gregg, a local banker who takes a shine to Sharon.

It soon becomes clear that either Jake or Sharon (or both) are unreliable narrators, but who is to be believed? Is reality that susceptible to manipulation? Over the course of one memorable dinner where all of these characters come together in a delightfully funny and fraught dinner.

Goldstein is fantastic in a tightly controlled performance as the twitchy and reactive Jake. The play of emotions on his face can be lightning-quick as he reacts to any unforeseen complications and tries to keep his cool. His ability to play the duality of a moment, like smiling at someone while simultaneously grinding his teeth in frustration, is crystal clear and palpable.

Driscoll as Sharon also a formidable performer, and switches from her Donna Reed persona to a more modern and shrewd outlook with ease. Both as emotionally unstable, but she keeps the audience guessing as to which is the real personality and which is the act right up until the climax of this dinner party goes wrong.

MJ Sieber (left), Keiko Green, Rafael Goldstein, Kat Pena and DeAnna Driscoll in SHARON

Where Goldstein is as tightly wrapped and unstable as a ticking time bomb, MJ Sieber is his opposite as the broadly hilarious, and emotionally open Banker Gregg. Gregg isn’t the sharpest, but he meets every insane thing Sharon and Jake say or do with a smile and high energy as if life is one big “Yes, and” improv game.

Green’s Tina is cool cynical, and approaches life with a sense of ennui - she seems to like Jake because of his unpredictability. Kat Peña is a sunny and well-meaning social worker whose presence and memories of the building add another layer of complications for Sharon and Jake to navigate.

Written by playwright Keiko Green, who also plays Tina, the play is a tension-filled mystery thriller punctuated by very funny, ridiculous moments. Directed by Rob Lufty the play deftly threads the needle of making these moments work together in a way that enhances instead of distracting from each other.

The set by Chien is complimented by the work of the others on the design team including lighting by Bryan Ealey, Sound by Steven Leffue, Alyssa Kane on properties, and the assistant scenic McKenna Perry. I can only imagine how much work it is to set this show for every performance, as all the parts work together to tell this story.

Since this is a world premiere, with some additional editing to a tight 90 minutes without a break in the tension for an intermission I think it could be an even more satisfying taught thriller.