Buddy comedy 'The Garbologists' highlights the importance of connection

There’s a lot you can tell about someone by what they throw away.

At least that’s what Danny says, a sanitation worker in the Gloucester Stage Company production of “The Garbologists” (through July 26). Danny, a white, blue-collar New Yorker, is showing his brand-new partner Marlowe, an Ivy-educated Black woman, the ropes. He tells her she has to “read the bags.” If one pays attention, there’s much to learn.

A skillful and extremely funny Paul Melendy portrays Danny, and a reliably wonderful Thomika Marie Bridwell (“Chicken and Biscuits”) stars as Marlowe in this buddy comedy by playwright Lindsay Joelle. The show follows two very different people at transitional points in their lives. Marlowe is a skinny-soy-vanilla-latte drinker who memorizes the specs of the trucks they drive and thinks she knows everything on the first day of the job. And Danny, chock-full of corny jokes and with several years of experience, relishes his role as the teacher. He explains to Marlowe that you can get whatever it is you want on the route, just tell the street and it provides. Marlowe seems skeptical about Danny as a person and his advice, but over time, the two start to find common ground.

While buddy comedies have a particular formula, it doesn’t keep “The Garbologists” from being entertaining or insightful. Melendy’s layered and comedically expressive Danny lights up the stage. He spits out a line from “Hamlet” and is surprised by Marlowe’s knowledge of the play and nicknames her Shakespeare after she recites lines from the play too. Also, Danny is relentless in his pursuit to get a laugh out of the reserved Marlowe, who hates talking before coffee in the morning. And when he finally succeeds, he says she is luminous.

Sanitation workers, responsible for carrying away all that we discard, don’t often get their due with poetic onstage tributes. Here, Joelle’s writing illuminates the lives of the people who whisk away our detritus, no matter the weather or the challenges they face. In one instance, Danny is called to pick up his sick child from school. But, leaving his new work partner alone on the road isn’t something that can be easily done. In another scene, Danny warns Marlowe about the dangers of picking up garbage and holding it too close to the body. Knives, torn soda-cans and broken glass could slice you open if you use your body for leverage, he warns.

The duo spends a lot of time climbing into and loading the trucks on the impressive set by Kristin Loeffler. The stage floor has a double yellow line, a bike lane, a fire hydrant and heaps of garbage to the right and to the back. There are traffic lights, road signs, Starbucks billboards and orange plastic electriduct fencing, common on city streets. Lighting and sound designers Anshuman Bhatia and Julian Crocamo, respectively, bring the story to life with the sights and noise of New York City, as Danny and Marlow work their route in jumpsuits and yellow vests courtesy of costume designer Jen Greeke.

The real meat of the play, with great direction by Rebecca Bradshaw, comes from finding out how Danny and Marlowe end up on this route together. A series of tough circumstances on both sides have pushed them to this moment, and their willingness to keep chiseling at each other’s outward veneers helps them bond.

These kinds of stories that peer more closely at humanity through the lens of friendship seem to be close to Bradshaw’s heart. Gloucester Stage’s producing artistic director since 2023, she often focuses on narratives that center the importance of connection, including last year’s Elliot Norton Award-winning play “The Hombres” about male friendships and “Wipeout” about the intertwined relationships of three older women learning to surf.

As Melendy’s Danny and Bridwell’s Marlowe spend their days together, they’re also working out their difficulties through conversation, exposing their vulnerabilities and lightening their load through a budding, heart-warming friendship. And, they’re both the better for it.

Gloucester Stage Company’s “The Garbologists” runs now through July 26.