Bay Area playhouse puts on play set aboard BART

April Grant and David Boyll in rehearsals for “2 Across” at Pacifica Spindrift Players.

Two strangers, both tackling the New York Times crossword, meet on an empty BART train at 4:30 in the morning at SFO. The woman, a psychologist, is organized and rational. The man, unemployed, is flighty and free-spirited. They spar, attacking one another’s views and values, only to find themselves changed as the eighty-minute train ride comes to an end at the last stop on the line – Pittsburgh/Bay Point Station.

That’s the premise of “2 Across,” an off-Broadway play by Jerry Mayer that has made its way to the local playhouse Pacifica Spindrift Players, “a little gem of a theater in the woods,” according to Barbara Williams, the play’s set designer.

Gabriel Ross in rehearsals for “2 Across” at Pacifica Spindrift Players.

First opening off-Broadway in 2015, starring Kip Gilman and Andrea McArdle, “2 Across” runs at the Pacifica playhouse for two weekends, from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6. Tickets are $25 for seniors (55 and up) and students and $30 for adults.

Unlike the off-Broadway iteration – which saw Gilman and McArdle acting on a set that looks like but a BART train – the Pacifica Spindrift Players’ production has a strong air of authenticity. The production uses real BART seats and an authentic BART System Map, among other set pieces.

“Take those seats, flush the stage out with walls, add a BART map and signage, and you have a sense of realism to the piece that wouldn’t be there otherwise,” said James Sousa, a longtime volunteer who’s helping with the production.

Director Craig Cummins in rehearsals for “2 Across” at Pacifica Spindrift Players.

“Those seats alone will evoke in everyone’s mind exactly where this is: a BART train,” he added.

The play began rehearsals at the Pacifica playhouse a few weeks ago. It stars just two people – the man and the woman – and this production features two casts, starring actors April Grant, Kate Rose, David Boyll, and Gabriel Ross.

Craig Cummins, the play’s director, said it certainly “takes a village to get a production going.”

Kate Rose in rehearsals for “2 Across” at Pacifica Spindrift Players.

The play was sidelined repeatedly by the COVID pandemic, he said. It was initially suggested by actor Debi Durst, a longtime theatrical figure in the San Francisco Bay Area, and took some time to get off the ground. That’s why this opening, though delayed a week due to unforeseen circumstances, feels so special.

And the authentic set pieces, well, “it really sets the scene for the actors and audience,” Cummins said.

For more information, visit the Pacifica Spindrift Players website. The playhouse is accessible by public transit. Take BART to Daly City Station then the 110 bus to Crespi Dr. and Regina Way in Pacifica and walk five minutes to the playhouse.