Strangers Meet in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

By Mingsi Ma

A good, meaningful relationship surfaces our deepest fears, secrets, and trauma. Just as frostbitten hands ache when they first touch warm water, genuine intimacy often hurts before it heals.

In Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley, a man struggling with anger issues and prone to street fights encounters a woman with low self-esteem who is still trying to overcome her traumatic past. Michael Patrick Trimm plays Danny, and Shannon Donovan plays Roberta. Danny shows up with his left eye covered in bruises, and Shannon, with her flattering blue dresses.

“Isn’t it fascinating how we can so easily spill our deepest emotions to the tarot reader at the fair, the stranger at the bus stop, or the taxi driver we will probably never see again, but not to the people closest to us?”

Isn’t it fascinating how we can so easily spill our deepest emotions to the tarot reader at the fair, the stranger at the bus stop, or the taxi driver we will probably never see again, but not to the people closest to us? At first, the two strangers talk past each other, each venting about their own disappointment and pain in life. Yet their parallel confessions reveal their loneliness and desire to be understood. In finding someone willing to listen without judgement, they quickly bond and become each other’s refuge.

Trimm and Donovan deliver phenomenal performances, bringing just the right amount of vulnerability and chemistry to their characters. In the program note, director Kelly Trumbell notes that “One process centered on Active Analysis, a rehearsal approach that invites actors to explore the play through a series of improvised etudes before settling into the text. Rather than searching for predetermined answers, the work honors the actor’s first impulses, instincts, and relationships”. The tacit cooperation between Trimm and Donovan results in compelling stage dynamics.

Both characters in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea demand a wide emotional range from the actors. The scenic design by Alex Keplar is rather simple, with an elevated platform stage and audience seated along two sides in an L-shape configuration. The lighting design by Annmarie Duggan uses cold and warm lights to fit the progress of the story. Such simplicity allows the audience to concentrate on the performances of the two actors. Kelly Trumbull’s tender direction prioritizes emotional intimacy over spectacle, allowing both characters to bring out their deepest vulnerabilities.

Trimm’s portrayal of Danny captures many delicate changes in the character. He first appears angry and agitated, ready to lash out at anyone who does not comply with his wishes. As the play progresses, however, Trimm gradually reveals Danny’s complex interiority: He is timid when confronted with kindness, awkward and uncertain in expressing care and affection, yet still gives his best. Beneath his tough exterior lies a deep longing to be loved.

Donovan’s character Roberta is jaded by life: her troubled family, divorce, and single motherhood. She feels suffocated living under the same roof with her toxic family. Roberta has many sides, first coming across as frantic and self-sabotaging. As her defenses gradually melt away, she turns into a sweet, romantic young woman with a heart full of love and dreams. In her dream of the ocean, a giant whale sends a gush of water into the air.

As Roberta, Donovan stands on the bed, stretches her arms wide to show the whale’s immense size to Danny, with her eyes sparkling with wonder. Though she has been forced to mature quickly due to her unfortunate past, this young woman has a hidden, complex side beneath her “crazy” appearance that only Danny cracks open. Still, very soon, Roberta’s bitterness and self-loathing pull her back. She again retreats to her shell. The contrasts posed by Donovan create a rich and fully realized character.

The honest, raw, and deeply intimate conversations between Danny and Roberta are more sensual than anything else. In a story that begins as a one-night encounter between two strangers, the intimacy doesn’t lie in the romance, but in the desire to expose one’s interiority. The play is not about how overnight two people magically conquer the wounds that have been haunting them. Instead, even if only for a brief moment, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea gives us the permission to remove the armor we have been taught to wear and embrace our own vulnerability.

Instead, even if only for a brief moment, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea gives us the permission to remove the armor we have been taught to wear and embrace our own vulnerability.

The show is mounted by a local independent theater collective operating outside any existing presenting body. In her curtain speech, one of the producers Clarise Fearn, mentioned the project as part of the “independent theater movement” responding to the current uncertainty facing larger regional presenting organizations. In the press email, the collective also sees it as “an entrepreneurial exploration of fiscally-responsible, independently-produced theater.”

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, directed by Kelly Trumbull, ran through July 19, 2026, at Rauh Studio Theater, the Cathedral of Learning.

Mingsi Ma is a critic, arts writer, and creative industry professional.