“Lunar Eclipse” evaluates two lives, a marriage, and a family

An older-middle-aged couple sit in a field, looking up at the summer skies on the night of a lunar eclipse. As the moon disappears within the earth’s shadow, they reminisce about life in general and their lives together in particular. They bicker a little, go over old regrets and losses, and share fears and comforts.

This is the bare bones description of Lunar Eclipse, witten by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies, presented by the Second Stage at their current off-Broadway location in the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City. From these bare bones, Margulies has crafted a piece of exquisite writing, devastating and uplifting and a privilege to experience.

George (Reed Birney) is a farmer somewhere in western Kentucky. We find him sitting in a field in his folding chair sobbing, then controlling himself as a car pulls up. Em (Lisa Emery) joins her amateur astronomer husband with a food hamper and some blankets. George explains to Em what’s about to transpire as they share a pair of binoculars to look up at the starry skies. They are reminded of a night some 50 years ago when George first took Em to the same field, showing her the constellations and the planets through his telescope. This leads them to the topic of their adopted son Tim and his behavioral problems: Could they have ever overcome the consequences of his pregnant mother’s drug abuse?

George apologizes to Em about taking her away from city life and bringing her out to live on his farm. He feels he made her give up the kind of life she was used to. She says she chose to give up that life to be with him and that she has had few regrets about it. She, in turn, apologizes for not living up to her promise of giving him children. He will have none of it, telling her that she was not to blame, and that adoption fulfilled his need for a family.

George is also worried about his mental state. He is starting to forget words and beginning to struggle with placing names to faces. Em tries to comfort him, saying it’s a part of growing older, but George is convinced it’s something more. He worries about what will happen to their generations-old farm after he and Em pass, imagining that their adopted daughter Mary Ann will sell it to developers for a Walmart. 

Director Kate Whoriskey encourages her actors to give performances of subtlety and emotional depth. Birney and Emery touchingly portray an older couple facing mortality together, making us believe in their mutual affection as well as their well-worn disputes.

The open field set by Walt Spangler, subtly lit by Amith Chandrashakar, with the sound design of Sinan Refik Zafar, enhances the portrayal of the Kentucky field where the play takes place. Chandrashakar’s back-wall lighting subtly changes from dusk to dawn, growing increasingly darker with nightfall and the removal of moonlight during the eclipse. Video designer S. Katy Tucker projects titles announcing the seven phases of the eclipse. The changes of atmosphere match the emotional weight of Margulies’ writing as the play unfolds.

Lunar Eclipse, while it has its comedic moments, is a delicately wrought play designed to make its audience ponder the nature of growing old in a changing world and the resilient courage needed to get through it. It is a play which I encourage you to see, to explore the subtle transformations of a senior couple experiencing a Lunar Eclipse.

Lunar Eclipse is presented by the Second Stage at the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd St., in New York, through June 22, 2025. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to 2st.com.