Tracy Michelle Hughes and Rhonda J. Soikowski star in Bright Half Life, on stage at 12th Ave Arts through March 11. Credit: ANGELA NICKERSON

Tracy Michelle Hughes and Rhonda J. Soikowski star in Bright Half Life, on stage at 12th Ave Arts through March 11.

Tracy Michelle Hughes and Rhonda J. Soikowski star in Bright Half Life, on stage at 12th Avenue Arts through March 11. ANGELA NICKERSON

What do we mean when we say love lasts forever? And how does love’s “foreverness” operate in a world populated by time-bound creatures who have conflicting ambitions and constantly shifting needs and expectations? Also, why do we make out and fly kites and stuff but also yell at each other?

New Century Theatre Company’s all-woman production of Bright Half Life, Tanya Barfield’s nonlinear drama of love and loss, plays out on a black, blocky hillock over which set designer Catherine Cornell strings an orrery of lamps. The scene looks like an abstract version of stars shining brightly on a hill, or maybe a cosmic platform floating through space. It’s almost as if the set establishes the Matrix-like realm necessary to answer the questions orbiting around the relationship at the center.

Rich Smith is The Stranger's former News Editor. He writes about politics, books, and performance. You can read his poems at www.richsmithpoetry.com