by Michele Markarian

‘Cardboard Piano’ – Written by Hansol Jung. Directed by Benny Sato-Ambush. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through April 14.

Adiel (Rachel Cognata) and Chris (Marge Dunn) are young lovers – Chris is sixteen – who have planned a makeshift wedding ceremony for themselves on New Year’s Day, 2000, in the church in Uganda where Chris’s missionary dad is pastor. The young woman are very different – Adiel is comfortable with her sexuality, Chris is not (“Fuck around in my house of worship and I’ll throw a bolt at your head,” Chris says in God’s voice, when thunder and lightning abound outside). Chris’s parents have found out about her and Adiel and are very upset, to the point where Chris has drugged them and stolen their car keys so that she and Adiel can escape. After saying their vows into a tape recorder, Chris and Adiel are interrupted by a young man of thirteen, Pika (Marc Pierre), who brandishes a gun and threatens to kill Chris. Pika is wounded, and Adiel insists on taking care of him before they leave. After dressing Pika’s wound, Adiel goes to her aunt’s house to say goodbye and grab a suitcase. Pika, an abducted child soldier, tells Chris that he has committed sins too atrocious for even God to forgive (“I’m a terrible soul and so He has forgotten about me”).  Chris insists that God will forgive, and on the same tape recorder used to record her “marriage”, creates a healing for Pika that absolves him of his sin. But Pika is wanted, and a young soldier (Michael Ofori) comes to the Church looking for him. Instead he finds Adiel, returning with a suitcase. A scuffle ensues, Pika commits one more atrocity, and then, when he discovers the true nature of Adiel’s and Chris’s relationship, commits another.