The Counter
Theaterworks
Hartford
Feb. 26, 2026
Across the course of a lifetime, we all develop secrets, embarrassing or shameful stories that we’d prefer to take to our graves. What happens, then, when someone asks you to share those painful parts of yourself at the drop of a hat?
The Counter, by playwright Meghan Kennedy, takes place in a small diner in upstate New York. Every morning, Paul (Tim Dekay) is the first customer, starting with two cups of coffee and being a humorous nuisance to diner worker Katie (Justis Bolding). Their usual morning routine begins to change when Paul asks Katie to be his friend, not just a friendly acquaintance. From there, Paul begins to make increasing demands on Katie, beginning with asking her to share her secrets and culminating with Paul asking to be “surprised” by an unthinkable request he’s made of Katie.
Tim Dekay is wonderful as Paul, a man at the end of his rope who seeks companionship from the one place he thinks he’ll get it. Dekay can switch from affable to cantankerous at the drop of a hat, but never loses the sympathy of the audience even when he’s being bull-headed and unreasonable. Justis Bolding is a good Katie, hesitant and unsure of her place in the world. Finally, when Erika Rolfsrud as Peg enters the play for a single scene, she steals the spotlight with her turn as Paul’s illicit lover, consumed by regret but still longing for the man she loves.
The play is at its strongest when the characters are allowed to banter naturally. Paul and Katie reveal themselves to each other and the audience through their actions and words as they go about the regular business of being a server and a customer, thanks in no small part to the work of Dekay and Bolding.
Despite the great performances, it felt like the emotions of the characters never truly connected with the story. As Paul and Katie get to know each other more thoroughly, they reveal more and more personal secrets to each other. Paul forcing the reveal of the secrets does begin to feel forced in the context of the play. These secrets don’t end up connecting to the plot in any meaningful way. If Katie and Paul had their revelations completely changed, it wouldn’t affect the story at all because they get dropped and then just sit on the stage like a pile of emotional rubble that the characters don’t know what to do with.
These scenes, and a couple of others, also cross the line into author speechifying. There are several instances in the play when you can hear Kennedy’s voice as she tries to say something important and moving about grief, because it doesn’t sound like anything Paul or Katie themselves would say. This results in an even greater emotional distance between the characters and the story being told.
Finally, in a play that is largely about taking control of one’s own life and accepting the consequences of choices, the resolution of Katie’s main plotline comes out of left field, a choice made by neither her nor Paul. I found this to be particularly unsatisfying, because it undercut the entire point of what Katie and Paul were talking about during the 75-minute play. Katie uses the last-minute action to tell Paul that she indeed succeeded in surprising him, but it wasn’t she who actually did so. It was a character who was offstage for the whole play. That takes away the character’s agency.
Still, I had fun watching the play thanks to the strong performances. I just wish that the author had trusted the characters to speak for themselves more than letting her speak for them.
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Jamil goes to hear some poetry.
