Death Is Given a New Face in ‘The Comeuppance’ at Dobama

If I asked you to picture Death, what image would you conjure up? Most imagine Death as a grim reaper: a tall, cloaked figure wielding a scythe and masking a skulled face behind the shadows of a hood. Not playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who gives Death a chilling, intriguing new face in his show “The Comeuppance,” now playing at Dobama Theatre.

A group of old friends that lovingly referred to themselves as the Multi-Ethnic Reject Group (M.E.R.G.E. for short) gather to pre-game for a few hours before attending their twentieth high school reunion. Time and life choices have taken a toll on the friend group as a whole, leading them to drift apart, but tonight, they are happy to sip at jungle juice, smoke joints and dance to hits from their youth. As they reminisce on their friendships, they discuss the falsities and truths behind the memories that defined their relationships, leading to heated confrontations, awkward realizations and unearthed trauma.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” opened off-Broadway in 2023. The show takes place during the present day in a Maryland suburb adjacent to Washington D.C. Within that suburb is a front porch–realistically rendered by scenic designer Richard Morris, Jr.–upon which the characters of the play spend their evening.

Aging and depreciating health sit at the top of the minds for these friends who are steadily and begrudgingly approaching middle age. This is especially true for Ursula, who recently developed type 2 diabetes and has lost an eye. The death of her grandmother and her declining health have left her somewhat reclusive and aloof, but still genial, which is wonderfully portrayed by actress Mariah Burks.

Ursula’s cool demeanor is at stark odds with that of Emilio, a successful artist who lives in Berlin and has not seen the rest of his friend group for fifteen years. Emilio is portrayed by Ananias J. Dixon, and he gives the role everything he has to offer. Dixon’s performance is so flush with vigor that his energy is practically electric. It’s impossible to look away as Emilio–always eager to debate the past–asks pointed questions of his friends, then rages as the answers do not match his reality.

Emilio has a particular soft spot for Caitlin, a woman who married a retired cop with incendiary political views and saddled herself with step-children whom she does not like. Rachel Lee Kolis is quietly powerful as she embodies the complexities of a character whose life strayed far and wide from what her friends expected.

Arriving late to the gathering is the boisterous Kristina, played by an energetic, bubbly Roxana Bell. Kristina, a veteran and anesthesiologist with five children, appears to have achieved great success, but the pressures of that success have eroded her joy and caused her to find solace in drinking.

Kristina drags her cousin, Paco, a veteran suffering from PTSD, along for the evening. He dated Caitlin during high school, but his membership in M.E.R.G.E. is questionable, and his presence incites discomfort. Paco is played with just enough awkwardness by Ricky Ortega to feel like a semi-outsider of the group.

These five friends are complex and messy and unquestionably human. Guided by director Nina Domingue, the ease with which the actors approach the script and one another lends the show the realism it needs to be successful. Passionate monologues that are designed to challenge and stimulate are delivered with skill, while regular millennial humor is executed with adept comedic timing.

The show follows a familiar template for a story based on old friends reuniting: memories of past events and relationships are called into question; bygone dreams of youth are put under the microscope and compared, with melancholy, to present realities; and old feelings are reignited. In many aspects, “The Comeuppance” feels familiar–that is, were it not for Death.

It’s only minutes into the play when Jeremy Paul’s lighting shifts dramatically, casting the porch and house in vibrant purple and red. This change is accompanied by designer Richard Ingraham’s faint deployment of eerie, foreboding sounds that denote a pausing or slowing of time. In these moments, Death has possessed one of the unknowing characters and is using their body and voice to speak directly to the audience. Death gives insights into the life of whoever he is speaking through. The interruptions are random and scattered, keeping the audience on their toes and providing an undercurrent of dread, for it is not immediately obvious why Death is visiting this group of friends.

“The Comeuppance” clocks in at just under two and a half hours. To Dobama’s credit, the lengthy run time of this no-intermission show is hardly felt. Domingue ensures that the show progresses at a steady clip, but the length paired with the sheer number of complex discussions and themes explored means that some of those explorations lose their memorability.

Some believe that Death is all around us, constantly lurking in the shadows and conspiring as to how to claim his next victim. In their production of “The Comeuppance,” Dobama’s cast and creative team skillfully craft a realistic picture of a familiar scenario, then belay it all with a fascinating, provocative question: What if Death were not just all around us, but within us?

“The Comeuppance” runs through Apr. 4, 2026, at Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights. Visit dobama.org or call (216) 932-3396 for tickets, $25-42.

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