'The Following Evening,' an Off-Beat, Four-Character Piece at the Perelman

From left, Abigail Browde, Ellen Maddow, Paul Zimet, and Michael Silverstone in "The Following Evening." Photo: Maria Baranova

“Nothing happens in this play.”

So proclaims Paul Zimet within the first five minutes of “The Following Evening.” 

And there are 75 minutes to go.

Some in the audience for this show of both dialogue and movement in the new Perelman Performing Arts Center may wish they’d been warned in advance. Eventually, though, even the most skeptical may well be won over by the extensive charm found in this offbeat four-character piece, a thinly fictionalized version of two real-life experimental theater company couples from two generations: Zimet, 81, and Ellen Maddow, 75 (from Talking Band), and the 40-ish Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone (known as 600 Highwaymen).

If audiences want to place blame for the lack of plot, Browde and Silverstone, who wrote and directed the show, must take the rap.

Look hard enough, though, and you’ll see more happening than promised. “The Following Evening” can be seen as a tale of a long-married couple who have lived in the same building meeting the younger twosome who have moved in some floors below. A nice friendship results. (In real life, Zimit and Maddow moved into their Soho building in 1973.) 

Before that happens, though, Paul and Ellen ask the questions one expects of senior citizens. (“What did the physical therapist say?”) However, they more often ignore their advancing age and sagging health and continue to make the experimental theater to which they’ve devoted their lives. 

One especially endearing moment occurs when Ellen recalls how she fell in love with theater. No, it wasn’t what she saw on stage, but backstage. Her family had a friend in the cast, so when Ellen witnessed actors milling about in their underwear and eating takeout food, that somehow made her want to join the club.

But leave it to the younger couple to be less optimistic. “I always thought it would be more fun,” says Abigail when musing on her 40 years on earth and her move to New York. Michael puts it more bluntly: “We’re just jerks.”

Abigail might agree when he tells her “I don’t say ‘Thank you’ because I don’t need to.” It’s a variation on a familiar but questionable sentiment from “Love Story” that Paul and Ellen had heard in their youth: “Love means you never have to say you’re sorry.”

Still, give Michael credit for observing Paul and Ellen and deciding “It’s not just an empty stage there. They’re building something.”

All four have, in fact, with “The Following Evening.”

And speaking of buildings, The Perelman Performing Arts Center makes a grand impression as you approach it. No fewer than 5,000 panels of marble greet you. Once inside, you’ll immediately see the restaurant Metropolis, well worth visiting before you head to the fourth-floor intimate 80-seat space. 

“The Following Evening” plays Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. through Feb. 18 at The Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton St. Tickets are $29-$59. Call 212-236-3000 or visit pacnyc.org.