Bradley (James Kautz), who has visions of galaxies and the infinite universe, might have liked Astrid, whom Greta (Naomi Lorrain) named after a star. Except they will never meet: The girl is one of 47 victims of a mass shooter who erupted inside the Museum of Natural History’s planetarium. A gunman who also ended up dead — and happened to be Bradley’s youngest brother.
Bradley and Greta share the galaxy of “Entangled,” an adventurous play by Charly Evon Simpson and Gabriel Jason Dean that culminates the Amoralists’ ambitious four-play anthology “Ricochet,” which explored several lives affected by the same act of violence (a comic book added even more context).
But their characters don’t share scenes. Instead Lorrain and Kautz stand on a circular platform as images of the cosmos are projected behind them (the set is by Andrew Diaz, the projections by Katherine Freer).
From this isolated podium they communicate through private social-media messages delivered to us as soliloquies. Bradley establishes first contact after going through a list of family members of victims murdered by his brother, and the play takes the form of an epistolary tale. But “Love Letters” this ain’t. His barrage of messages remain unanswered by Greta, who is trying to make sense of the tragedy, and hasn’t got the time to comfort others.
Dean and Simpson (who had an off-Broadway hit this season with “Behind the Sheet”) created the play together via a Google document, sharing notes and developing scenes. She wrote Greta (first introduced in her play “Stained”), while he took on Bradley.
Their distinct voices are what propel “Entangled” from a traditional tear-jerker into a work of delicate rage.
While Dean’s writing is overly restrained — Bradley comes off as a man with too many unfulfilled needs — Simpson presents Greta as a figure of unbearable grief and rightful wrath. Kate Moore Heaney’s unobtrusive direction allows us to observe, rather than react, as we wait for the two styles to collide.
As Greta, Lorrain is made of flesh, tears and fire. She embodies a mother’s specific sorrow, while also making space for the character to comment on the ways in which white people expect black women to rescue them from themselves.
What also haunts about the performance, and “Entangled,” is that we leave convinced we have met Astrid. Simpson’s descriptions of her precociousness and compassion become an unforgettable tribute to a little girl we never see, but whose laughter we can almost hear.
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“Entangled” runs through May 11 at the A.R.T./New York Theaters, Manhattan; amoralists.com. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.