Time Stands Still, directed by Daniel Sullivan, opened on Broadway last week (January 28, 2010) and I was thrilled to attend last night’s performance.

Sarah and James, a photographer and a journalist, have been together for years and share a passion for documenting the realities of war. But when circumstances compel them to return home to New York and their circle of friends, the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life. Time Stands Still marks the fourth collaboration for Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Marguiles and Tony Award-winning director Danie Sullivan. (Margulies’ Sight Unseen, Brooklyn Boy, Dinner with Friends). Don’t miss the Broadway premiere of this new American play about the way we live today.

This incredibly compelling drama by Donald Margulies stars Laura Linney, Brian d’Arcy James, Alicia Silverstone, and Eric Bogosian. Laura Linney plays Sarah, a photojournalist who gets badly injured due to a roadside bombing in Iraq. Her injured leg and broken arm force Sarah to live with a crutch and sling for quite some time, though there’s nothing to help her with hers scars, both physically and mentally. Sarah is a tough woman who is anticipating being fully healed so she can head back overseas to cover the war.

Though her boyfriend of eight years, James (Brian d’Arcy James) feels the exact opposite. James, a journalist left Iraq before the particular bombing that injured Sarah happened. After a certain experience James encountered, Iraq became much too overwhelming, leading James back home to America and letting their translator, or “fixer” take after Sarah.

Well, the fixer took care of Sarah alright. While James expresses his eagerness to get married after the events that both faced in Iraq, Sarah admits to not only having an affair with the fixer but falling in love! Still, James wants to live an ordinary life with Sarah, because she is the one that he loves. But as we clearly see, sometimes love just is not enough.

The two clearly have two different ideas of what their ideal lives would be like. Their distance and tone in the opening scene clued the audience in on their exhausted relationship. One relationship that seems to be doing well is Sarah’s ex and mentor, Richard, a magazine photo editor. His new girlfriend, Mandy, an event planner is much younger than he and quite naive though she makes an incredibly intelligent point about Sarah and James’ profession.

The question, “How can anyone photograph maimed children rather than rush to their aid?” creates for quite a heated argument, just one of the few in this play that will touch you forever. As this play is very much reminiscent of society in the present, it is politically engaging for sure and very thought provoking. While Mandy is the comic relief, she is also full of so much warmth and life, saying, “There’s so much beauty in the world. But you only see misery.”

What makes this play so fabulous is that all of the clashing points of views have significant weight of support so no singular point of view is forced upon the audience. Though Time Stands Still is just as much about the ethics and morals behind one’s career as it is about relationships. Love, grief, sacrifice, and so many more themes are conveyed in this incredibly well written play.

This is a very moving piece with much witty dialogue along the way. These four actors really hold their own and create such rich characters, performances. Audiences will walk away thinking about what their priorities are in life and why, and what they would be willing to do for the person they love. What a moving, memorable piece that women and men of all ages can appreciate.

Time Stands Still runs Tuesdays – Sundays at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Buy your tickets here.