Though it is named A Case for the Existence of God, Samuel Hunter's tight two-person play evades the didactic destiny of such a title—one where characters argue theological positions on a darkened stage, possibly while positioned on folding chairs.

Instead, we meet Ryan (Isaac Lamb) and Keith (Charles Grant) in a comically-small, brightly-lit office. They're there to discuss a mortgage—Ryan wants one; Keith is a broker. 

Initially, Ryan doesn't understand that Keith can't simply grant him a loan; a mortgage broker merely helps applicants find lenders. Flummoxed by banks, finance, and modern success, in general, Ryan's desperation is also linked to familial responsibility—he's literally trying to buy back the family farm. In a moment of eloquence, he explains: "Having money is the only real permission I have to be alive.” 

Charles Grant as Keith PHOTO BY JOHN RUDOFF

Keith, by contrast, comes from more financial stability. He vacations in Europe and possesses degrees in both English and medieval period music. He's gay and he's Black, and he also grew up in small-town Idaho, so he knows a thing or two about disappointment. We see how Keith's own life also has been steamrolled, slipping from tweedy academia to this cruddy mortgage brokerage. 

Hunter's well-crafted one-act work forges then tests a relationship between these two superficially different men. Ryan’s custody struggles mirror Keith’s situation of fostering-to-adopt. As the two men talk, they realize that they have engaged with each other much more deeply than they intended, or than their business-level relationship requires. They share photos of their kids, their disappointments, and Ryan one again hammers at the truth with an astute observation: “I think we share a specific kind of sadness, you and me.”

Isaac Lamb (left) as Ryan and Charles Grant (right) share a very small space. PHOTO BY JOHN RUDOFF

Both men strive for a reset. Both want to heal their biggest fractures in ways the world can understand: a farmhouse, a daughter, social respectability, popsicles. 

One might guess that a drama of two men sitting in a room and talking wouldn't be very engaging. One would guess wrong. Hunter’s compelling writing meets two perfectly-cast and skilled actors who sure-footedly climb this “Everest of a play,” as Grant called it on opening night.

A Case for the Existence of God never proves the existence of God, but it does make a case.

Third Rail Repertory Theatre presents A Case for the Existence of God at CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh, through March 16, $25-57, all ages, tickets and info at thirdrailrep.org