In KCAT’s Sea Marks, the acting’s at high tide

When Gardner McKay’s Sea Marks first appeared on TV in the mid-1970s and made its off-Broadway debut a few years later, its setting of “present day” might not have seemed a stretch. The two characters in this small play, foremost a love story, court each other through the handwritten exchange of increasingly revealing letters. On paper. Sent through the mail. 

The story’s charms, however, extend beyond the nostalgia of that nearly lost form of personal communication. And in the production onstage at Kansas City Actors Theatre, director Jan Rogge has smartly placed the story in the 1950s (1958, to be exact), the distance of decades making the plot more plausible (if still a bit predictable).

There’s much in this McKay play — sometimes touching, sometimes witty — to win over an audience: the performances of its two cast members, Darren Kennedy as Colm Primrose and Cinnamon Schultz as Timothea Stiles, and the rich language that strongly roots them in place — he by the sea, she in the city. 

Colm, here a 45-year-old fisherman, lives on a remote, windy island west of Ireland, a way of life that suits his sensibilities. After catching a glimpse of Timothea — a former farmgirl from Wales now living and working for a publisher in Liverpool — at a wedding reception in his native Cliffhorn Heads, he begins to write to her. We see the unfolding of (at first) a friendship as we meet these two individuals, who are similar in some ways but vastly different in others. It’s a slow-moving story, their correspondence going on for well over a year before they have the opportunity to see each other again (alas, no FaceTime).

Just when the conceit of the letters’ back-and-forth begins to exhaust itself, the script shifts to a more brisk, still-over-the-miles conversation. By then, though, we’ve learned about these characters in those initial, sometimes cautious, exchanges — especially Kennedy’s Colm — each actor in a separate habitat on either side of the stage, two environs that easily merge when the setting dictates (scenic design by Gary Mosby). 

McKay employs monologue, too, which mostly works here, minus a confusing passage of Timothea’s, in Act 1, that left me pondering its meaning and whose placement in the script felt awkward. (This may become more clear and more fluid in the course of the show’s run.) But both actors are excellent, and it’s Schultz’s and Kennedy’s authentic, realistic portrayals that make us care about this man and this woman — types who so easily could fall into stereotype or sentimentality — and their narrative. The story centers more around Colm and his words — it’s his story as well as theirs — and Kennedy conveys a solid, grounding presence, while Schultz adeptly balances Timothea’s seemingly conflicting motives.

Timothea’s dresses (costumes by Sarah M. Oliver) and the music emanating from her small apartment radio put us in a different era. Crashing waves (sound design by Jonathan Robertson) lull us during scene changes (a couple of which are lengthy) and remind us of the country’s rugged terrain. And the effective lighting (by Shane Rowse) helps set the story’s tone and characters’ place — whether in companionship or alone.  

Best known as a TV-star heartthrob in his day, McKay would seem, on the surface, far removed from these characters and their lives. He grew up in New York City, spent time in Paris and Hollywood. But he gave up showbiz and fame, sojourning in the Amazon for two years, before opting to pursue other, more fulfilling artistic interests. He also, apparently, loved to sail. Maybe Sea Marks reflects that affinity for the sea, or the conflicts that come from the opposition of goals and inner needs.

Sea Marks

Through January 28, at Kansas City Actors Theatre, H&R Block City Stage at Union Station, 30 West Pershing Road, 816-235-6222, kcactors.org.