"Last Train to Nibroc"

June 28, 2011 — A soldier and a girl meet in 1940 on a train from Los Angeles. She's returning home after being jilted by her fiance, he's been discharged from the army on the eve of World War II because he suffers from "fits." Coincidentally, they learn they're both from neighboring towns in Kentucky.

This simple play, written by Arlene Hutton and based loosely on her parents' meeting, is being presented by the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Allison McLemore and Joel Ripka are the only actors in the 90-minute, three-act play with no intermission. Each act finds the couple meeting under different circumstances over a three-year period, their lives taking directions they never anticipated, but one thing remains constant: their attraction to each other. She's often in denial of it, but he refuses to give up.

These two small-town southerners with 1940s values are sometimes combative, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes sarcastic, but always immensely likable, thanks to the skillful actors. The play is humorous, heart-warming and in the end satisfying. You can sense when an audience is pleased, and tonight's audience certainly was. I drove home with a good feeling.