"BRILLIANT!" "POIGNANT"

.LOVE
Maybe that high school sweetheart was my soul mate after all.

SYNOPSIS

ACT ONE
Shopping in the same grocery, He and She traverse the aisles. Both are interrupted several times by phone calls that reveal their complicated adult lives: He is a music professor, up for Dean and a single dad with an almost adult daughter. She’s an editor of the local newspaper. Her ex husband is undependable and is teaching their daughter questionable values. Their shopping carts almost collide, but diverted they do not meet. Each goes home to check on their latest computer match. Disappointed, they ask “Is that all? Is love over in this life” Their thoughts drift back to childhood. We follow them through their lives together and apart starting when they met on the playground at age 5 and played “Doctor”. Getting older, puberty arrives with confusion. In High School, they become close friends for a while before sexual tension causes them to part. Separately, they experience college life until they meet and bond with intensity and set up house. She becomes pregnant. He withdraws, confusing her. She has an abortion, thinking that’s what he wants. That was not his intention. Somehow, they don’t have much to say to each other. They break up.

ACT TWO
In middle age now, they live separate lives, single in the same city. Both are shopping in the same grocery. Their shopping is interrupted several times by phone calls that expose their complicated adult lives: He’s getting pressure to cover for the sick Dean. His daughter wants to drop out of college and travel. She writes for the local newspaper. Her child is rude and her husband verbally abuses her constantly. Their shopping carts almost collide, but diverted, they do not meet. He feels lonely and frustrated by the dating scene. He finds the online dating world difficult. She feels trapped and finds solace from Salsa dancing. When her husband is caught soliciting sex online, she is happy to end the marriage. He explores more dating websites. She examines her life decisions and looks forward. Each separately decides to try one more online matchmaker... “.love”. They make a connection and a date for coffee with their online “match”. She is enthusiastic but has doubts about getting back into the dating scene. She gets a call from her ex, trying to wiggle out of his time with their daughter. She is firm but the conversation reveals just how fragile her life is. It upsets her deeply. As he is about to go out his door, he gets a call from the University President, informing him that his mentor, the Dean, has died. The President is appointing him Dean of Fine Arts. He is humbled. They both are a little taken aback and they wonder why they are forging out into the world to try something new when their lives are already so full and complicated. They conclude, “I’m alive”. Taking a deep breath, they go to meet their online match. Standing in line to get coffee, they recognize each other. They talk. There is much affection and interest. After polite and personal conversation, they realize they are the “match”. Tentatively, they embrace.

©2007 Richard Jennings Music