Williamston Theatre production makes case for God’s existence

The title of Williamston Theatre’s first production of 2025, “A Case for the Existence of God,” might lead one to believe that this is a grandiose, preachy story that deals with deep theological debates. This may be a case of God being in the details, because this is a small, intimate story about two men who are trying to be good fathers, and- spoiler alert- God is neither in the cast nor the script.

Ryan (Ryan Patrick Welsh) is a factory laborer going through a divorce who desperately wants to give his daughter the stability he never had as a child. To achieve that, he wants to buy a piece of land that had belonged to his great-grandparents and build a home there.

Ryan meets mortgage broker Keith (Anthony Cason) at the daycare that their daughters both attend. Keith is a single, gay Black man who fostered a baby with the intent of adoption, and as the plot unfolds he faces the potential of losing her.

The story takes place in Twin Falls, Idaho, a fittingly symbolic location as the men face similar situations and the threat of similar loss. Although they had very different upbringings, early on in their relationship Keith recognizes that the two men “share a specific kind of sadness.” From that point on, they forge bonds as fathers whose deepest fears are losing their daughters.

When the play debuted at the Signature Theatre in New York in 2022, playwright Samuel D. Hunter said in an online interview that he wrote “Case” to address the question “how do we find space to hope” in a world where cynicism is easy. As a fairly new father himself, Hunter realized that parents must have hope that there is a future for their children, and “Case” makes that case.

In real life do men share vulnerabilities like Ryan and Keith do? As a woman, I honestly do not know, but certainly it would be a brighter world if there were more relationships like theirs. “Case” is a balm against toxic masculinity because with Ryan, Hunter has created a straight male character who is not uncomfortable developing a friendship with a gay man.

Welsh and Cason are perfectly cast. Welsh has the physicality of a former high school jock turned working stiff,  but he also has the acting chops to mesmerize the audience as he describes a close call with a mental breakdown. As a minority living in a small town, Cason’s Keith is tightly bound physically, as if he is still avoiding the head smacks he might have gotten in school hallways 20 years ago. As he grows more comfortable with Ryan, though, he becomes increasingly animated and confident.

Kirk Domer has designed a fantastic set, a tidy little corporate cubicle perfectly lit by Harley Miah’s lighting design. The stage is elevated, a simulated office floating above the floor, giving the setting a feeling of isolation, mirroring Keith’s and Ryan’s own feeling of isolation. In their most intimate scenes the men sit at the edge of the stage, poised breathtakingly on both a real and an emotional precipice.