‘Grace & Glorie’ brings brilliant performances and heartfelt storytelling to Hanover Tavern
Catherine Shaffner and Amber Marie Martinez are absolutely brilliant in ATLAS Partnership’s production of Grace & Glorie at Hanover Tavern. Director Julie Fulcher-Davis brings together a story full of humor, grief, faith and humanity, carried by two actresses whose chemistry makes it easy to become invested in their characters. Before the production closes Nov. 8, this is a play worth making time to see.
Written by Virginia playwright Tom Ziegler, Grace & Glorie introduces two women whose lives have taken very different paths. Grace Stiles, played by Shaffner, is a fiercely independent 90-year-old with terminal cancer who has left the hospital to return to her rural home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gloria Whitmore, played by Martinez, is a Harvard-educated former New Yorker who arrives as a hospice volunteer. Their meeting places different generations, backgrounds and expectations in the same room, providing the foundation for a story with considerable depth and soul.
Shaffner’s Grace feels natural from the beginning. Her witty expressions, sarcastic responses and impeccable comedic timing have the familiarity of a grandmother who has lived enough life to know when someone is making things unnecessarily difficult. There is confidence in her delivery, along with an assurance that things will eventually work out. She can make a remark pointed enough to draw laughter while allowing affection and vulnerability to remain part of the character.
That balance makes her performance especially convincing. Grace’s independence is apparent in the way she speaks and responds to Gloria, but Shaffner also lets the audience recognize the effort involved in maintaining it. Her expressions and timing communicate what Grace would sometimes rather leave unsaid. The humor feels rooted in her personality, and even her disdain for modern “necessities” becomes part of a recognizable outlook on life.
During the performance I attended, Shaffner also handled an unexpected interruption with a quick response that fit Grace perfectly. It was a small moment, but it demonstrated how completely she inhabited the character. Nothing about her reaction pulled the audience away from the story. She simply remained Grace. Both actresses brought that level of professionalism to their performances, allowing the evening to feel immediate and spontaneous.
Martinez gives Gloria an equally believable presence. She captures the sophistication and bubbly confidence of a highly educated, upper-class woman who thinks she understands life. Her eagerness to help brings energy to the exchanges, along with a sense that she may not be as prepared as she believes. Martinez makes that enthusiasm convincing while allowing uncertainty to show underneath it.
Gloria’s vulnerability is visible early, although Martinez gives the audience room to wonder about its source. There is something overly zealous and inexperienced in her determination to be useful. The confidence and vulnerability exist together, giving the character more depth than her polished exterior initially suggests. Martinez sustains both without making either feel exaggerated.
Together, the actresses make the dialogue feel natural. Their banter has rhythm, and their responses feel connected to what the other person is doing. You believe they are listening to each other. That chemistry is essential in a two-person production, and Shaffner and Martinez sustain it through an immense range of emotions. Exchanges that are witty, humorous and light can give way to moments as dark and cold as the night.
The story brings young and old, rural and urban, formal education and common wisdom into conversation. Traditional and contemporary perspectives provide plenty of disagreement, but the women remain believable individuals throughout. Their differences give the dialogue energy and offer the audience opportunities to recognize attitudes, habits and assumptions familiar from their own lives.
Faith also has a place in those conversations. The play allows belief, skepticism and fear to share the stage without making the exchanges feel like a lecture. These are personal questions for the women, and the performances give them the weight they deserve. The willingness to listen, even when their views differ, is part of what makes the relationship compelling.
The hospice setting may suggest a difficult evening, but humor is central to the experience. Many of us have been connected to someone nearing death and understand how laughter can help people get through frightening or uncomfortable circumstances. The play recognizes that response while allowing its characters to face difficult subjects directly. Their fear and vulnerability are given room alongside the comedy.
Fulcher-Davis brings those elements together beautifully. The lighting, sound effects and timing support the performances throughout, and the production held my attention from beginning to end. With only two actresses carrying the story, every exchange matters. Shaffner and Martinez give those exchanges enough variety and feeling that the production never lacks depth or soul.
Hanover Tavern’s intimate theater is a fitting setting for the play. The room feels small enough that there is no bad seat in the house, and the closeness makes it feel as though you are in the action. You can take in the expressions and reactions that contribute so much to the performances. For a story built around two people in conversation, that intimacy strengthens the experience.
I left wishing more people would encounter someone from a different world with a willingness to listen and understand. That is the strongest reason I would encourage people to see Grace & Glorie. Along with exceptional performances and plenty of humor, it offers an opportunity to consider how people can face their differences, lean on each other and let love prevail.
ATLAS Partnership’s Grace & Glorie continues through Nov. 8 at Hanover Tavern, 13181 Hanover Courthouse Road. Find tickets and performance times on the official production page.
