Trio forms simple plot of 'Key Exchange'

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Apr 12, 2009

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Lisa wants Philip to commit, but Philip is afraid.

And Michael? He wants his marriage to be as it was before his wife ran away with her music teacher.

That’s really it as far as the plot goes for Kevin Wade’s Key Exchange. And that’s enough for Chase Lee.

“That’s the kind of director I am,” he said. “I like to say, here are these people, and here’s their story.”

And their story will come to life when Key Exchange opens Tuesday, April 14, in Hatcher Hall Theatre on the LSU campus.

The play is the final performance in the LSU Department of Theatre’s 2008-2009 Studio Series, as well as the final series performance to take place in Hatcher Hall.

All play performances will move back to the Music and Dramatic Arts Building next fall after the building reopens in June.

“The Outworks Festival will take place in Hatcher Hall, and that will be the big finale,” Lee said. “But this marks the last of the studio plays in this theater.”

Hatcher Hall has served the theatre department well, and its intimate space is the perfect setting for this story.

Wade’s story involves only three characters: Philip, played by Nick Rhoton; Lisa, played by Lauren Gros; and Michael, played by Brooks Lazar.

The story progresses during a series of summer weekend encounters among the characters as they bike together in Central Park.
Their meetings are casual at first, the conversations filled with crisp, funny lines.

Then life takes a serious turn.

“Lisa and Philip are in a new relationship,” Lee said. “But Lisa wants the relationship to be more permanent.”