“Maytag Virgin” Opens at Shaker Bridge Theatre

Her mouth is in constant motion as is the rest of her. Both body and mind favor quick, angular movements, hairpin turns in a firehose of conversation. He is laid back, quiet, taking her in and wondering how much he can absorb. Her home has a technicolor vibe. So do her dresses. His house could have used a slap of paint a few decades ago, and his shirt might have come from the bottom of a drawer of perpetually unfolded clothes. Her yard had a clothesline at the ready. Much to her dismay, a Maytag dryer lives on his porch.

She calls him Mr. Key. He calls her Lizzy. Can they ever fall in love?

Maytag Virgin recently opened at Shaker Bridge Theatre. It’s a two-hander, written by Audrey Cefaly and directed by Jammie Patton, that’s both hilarious and deeply moving. Lizzy (Napiera Groves Boykin) is a schoolteacher in a small Alabama town; she has been recently widowed. Mr. Key (Greg Alverez Reid) is her widower neighbor, new in town and a teacher at Lizzy’s school. In the intimacy of the theater at the Briggs, the audience has a ringside seat with a view of the characters’ adjoining yards and the development of their relationship.

Initially, the play has an appealing rom-com, Odd Couple sort of feel, and while the humor never leaves, something else creeps in. It’s no spoiler to say that the couple share a spark of attraction, but they each have their stories, hidden and yet waiting to be told. A marriage that ends in grief (sudden for her and not so for him) asks the question: how in the world can a surviving spouse carry such sadness, heal, and move on?

Like Mr. Key, the audience starts to see behind Lizzy’s franticness. And Mr. Key’s placid demeanor begins to fade to reveal something roiling underneath. The actors both have spot-on comedic timing, but they really shine in the dramatic moments in Act II, when they reflect on their long marriages and the loss they each live with. Is romance even possible? “Beach walks . . .,” says Lizzy, recalling a past young love, “they don’t mean anything. They should, but they don’t.”

To spend some time with these two characters is to find yourself rooting for them as the clock is winding down on the performance. We all want to believe that we can heal, that love is possible. See what this powerful, well-written and superbly acted play has to say about second chances.

Maytag Virgin is at Shaker Bridge Theatre at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, Vermont and will be on stage through May 25. Tickets, and news of upcoming performances including the 2025-26 season, are here.

(Photos by Caitlin Gomes Photography, with permission of Shaker Bridge Theatre.)

Note: In my haste, apparently I did not get Lizzy’s quote exactly right. Here is the full quote. “But walks on the beach at twilight don't mean anything. It seems as if they must, but they don't."

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.