What are friends for? Plays at SpeakEasy and Company One have some answers

Sometimes, hope is all that remains in dire circumstances. Two very different people aiming to provide stable lives for their children, Ryan and Keith, grasp at it while navigating complicated systems that will determine their fate in Samuel D. Hunter's "A Case for the Existence of God." They also become friends. Friendship, a topic less explored than it should be, is central to Hunter’s tale and in M Sloth Levine’s “The Interrobangers” presented by Company One in partnership with the Boston Public Library and The Theater Offensive.

“A Case for the Existence of God,” a SpeakEasy Stage Company production (at the Calderwood Pavilion through Feb. 17) simmers slowly at first, then blooms beautifully. The show is expertly directed by Melinda Lopez who has a knack for helming and writing tales (such as "Mr. Parent" and "The Black Beans Project") that spark empathy and burrow into the existence of ordinary people to reveal life’s transcendent beauty. Lopez' touch is evident here. There’s also the skillful push and pull between Ryan and Keith, portrayed by Jesse Hinson and De'Lon Grant, as they get to know each other and develop a friendship while Keith helps Ryan prepare for the home-buying process.

Grant's Keith is a Black, gay man who works as a mortgage broker. Keith is cultured and educated, with a dual degree in early music and English, and wants to be a father. He has been trying for three years. He's tried surrogacy and now, he's fostering to adopt a daughter.

Ryan, who is white, doesn't have a degree to speak of, works at a yogurt factory and is eager to buy 12 acres of land to build a house for his daughter Krista. He's just signed divorce papers and wants to share custody with his ex-wife Laura. He is sure of one thing: he doesn't want to be a single dad in a sad, single-dad apartment.

Though the men differ greatly — Ryan says he isn’t sure what “tacitly” means when Keith uses it in conversation — they relate over what Ryan calls a "specific kind of sadness." But perhaps they're also bonded by the need for the systems (social and otherwise) they're navigating to see them as worthy of receiving what they desire.

Hunter's "A Case for the Existence of God" was inspired by his and his husband's experience trying to adopt a child and it won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Penning stories of ordinary people battling difficult circumstances, like Ryan and Keith's experience, is central to Hunter's work. His 2010 play, "A Bright New Boise," centers on a group of Hobby Lobby workers, and 2012's "The Whale," about a morbidly obese man, was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie which had its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy a decade ago.

Watching these two actors is a real treat. They're funny and make their characters feel realistic, except for a risk Keith takes on Ryan's behalf. It feels like a stretch, but perhaps that's what friendship sometimes requires. There's not much action or movement in the play either, but it doesn't detract from the emotion. Keith's cubicle is where much of the dialogue occurs and scene changes are signaled by audio or lighting.

What does change is how deep their friendship becomes over time and how their connection affects their daughters' lives.

Another friendship — this time between a group of kids — is at the center of the fun, schtick-y "The Interrobangers," a queer romantic mystery by M Sloth Levine. Company One Theatre is presenting the production in partnership with the Boston Public Library and The Theater Offensive through Feb. 24. These friends who live in Foggy Bluffs, NY, like to solve crimes in their spare time and are pretty good at it. But one of them, Zodiac, portrayed by the gifted Anderson Stinson III ("Black Super Hero Magic Mama" and "The Bomb-itty of Errors"), goes missing and that changes everything.

Director Josh Glenn-Kayden keenly directs this well-acted narrative and all of its elements in a way that simultaneously feels new and nostalgic. It feels like watching an episode of Scooby Doo with deeper conversations about growth and identity folded in.

The Elliot Norton Award-winning Schanaya Barrows is terrific as the preoccupied-with-perfection Dani, who has a crush on the letter-jacket-wearing and kind Hank (Jay Connolly). The audience gets to watch Connolly's Hank and Stinson III's Zodiac grow closer in an endearing way, and Chris Everett is delightful as the deceptively sweet thrift store owner Bettie Roswell. Everett is also the no-nonsense mayor and mom of Hank.

The design team’s contributions add greatly to the show’s success, from Danielle DeLaFuente’s clever set design in which structures double, for example, as a diner and thrift store to lighting, video and projections from Elmer Martinez, Narissa "Nars" Kelliher, Maria Servellon, and Grace Kroeger. The video and projections depict a foggy forest, signage, monsters and scenes around town, and the appearance of a huge, tree-like red-eyed monster from puppet designer Amanda Gibson help draw audiences into the town plagued by lore of a beast in the woods.

Combined with the comic sensibilities of local illustrator Cagen Luse, everything comes together for an engaging, albeit a little long, coming-of-age and accepting-of-self-play and production.

SpeakEasy Stage Company's production of "A Case for the Existence of God" runs through Feb. 17 at the Calderwood Pavilion. Company One Theatre's "The Interrobangers," in partnership with the Boston Public Library and The Theater Offensive, runs through Feb. 24 at the BPL.