Theater Review: Union Arts Center’s “Table 17” Is A Fresh Contemporary Rom-Com

Review: Table 17 at Union Arts Center

Through November 15, 2026

Romantic comedies (rom-coms) are actually quite difficult to write. They have a simple concept with a plot as familiar as time itself. Since we are all, if we’re over 12, familiar with relationships that fail, as really most of them do, it takes real writing skill to make the story interesting to watch.

Table 17 is a 90-minute rom-com by Douglas Lyons. Lyons is a fresh voice and rising playwright/musical theater writer. His writing voice is colloquial and current and slangy and fun. The reason why this rom-com works is because of that writing style in dialogue. He’s got what seems like a natural voice in comedy. 

The characters in Table 17, Jada (Bria Samoné Henderson), Dallas (Brandon JonesMooney) and River/Eric (Lamar Legend), don’t take themselves too seriously and poke fun at themselves and their own weaknesses, while striving to be their best selves. Their dialogue clearly differentiates their personalities. They enjoy teasing each other.

Part of the uniqueness to this play is the breaking of the 4^th wall – talking directly to the audience – which sometimes gets the audience talking back. And sometimes the characters even ask the audience’s opinion, which encourages that even more. It’s not easy to manage talking audiences as actors, but these three are game for the challenge.

Jada and Dallas thought they were in love, for five years, and even engaged, before misunderstandings cause a breakup. A couple of years later, Dallas reaches out and Jade finds herself saying yes to a dinner. We meet them, first, getting ready for their evening and hearing them tell us about their thoughts about it. They immediately establish the humor and set us up to anticipate an awkward night – hard for them, but fun for us. 

Legend plays an interfering waiter, and alternates as Jada’s flight attendant co-worker, Eric, who takes advantage of Jada’s disintegrating relationship woes. He is capable of making us think there are four actors in the show, instead of three! 

To tell the story, Lyons uses flashbacks to tell the history. He also uses stop-action moments in the dialogue when a bell and light-change indicate the character is going to tell us something directly. These moments are crisply handled to help us understand what happened. As we watch the back story, we can see mistakes the characters make and how it leads to failure. But we still like the characters and want each of them to succeed.

Director Shermona Mitchell hits the comic timing and leads a cohesive team of designers that expertly provide technical details. Parmida Ziaei creates a spare upscale environment for the restaurant and several set pieces wheeled on and off quickly to set fast-changing easily identifiable locations. Andrew D. Smith provides effective lighting that is understated enough to barely notice, but key to helping with the subtle time changes. Jerik Fernandez sets the ambiance with easily recognizable contemporary songs to perk up the atmosphere. Danielle Nieves has the tricky job of costuming that impeccably leaps time and space in a moment.

Throughout the play, Lyons is giving us all a moment to reflect on how the lovers could have done it better. Maybe you know all that already, but if not, maybe you’ll find something useful to apply to your situationship, right now. It stacks up as heartfelt fun.

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