Such are the questions posed in Richard Greenberg's quick-witted yet often poignant comedy-drama Three Days of Rain, which opens the spring semester for the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences Jan. 17-20.

Photo by David Kilper

(From left) Jared Macke, Kerry Mulvaney and Charles Olson each perform dual roles in Richard Greenberg's generation-spanning comedy-drama Three Days of Rain. The show is presented by the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences Jan. 17-20.

A 1998 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the play takes a hard look at familial miscommunication through a pair of triangular relationships that jump forward and back in time, cutting across two generations of an unsettled New York family.

Shows begin at 8 p.m. Jan. 17 and 18; at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Jan. 19; and at 2 p.m. Jan. 20. Performances take place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre, located in Mallinckrodt Student Center Room 208.

The story begins in 1995, when the charming yet neurotic Walker (played by junior Charles Olson) reunites with married older sister Nan (graduate student Kerry Mulvaney) after the death of their father, Ned, a prolific and successful, if somewhat aloof, architect. Ned, surprisingly, has willed his signature achievement -- a grand Long Island mansion -- to the genial television actor Pip (sophomore Jared Macke), who is Walker's lifelong friend (and perhaps something more for Nan) as well as the son of Ned's former business partner, Theo.

"This spurs some real conflict among the children, particularly with Walker, who bears a great deal of resentment toward his father," explained director Eddie Kurtz, a senior in the PAD and the first undergraduate in recent memory to take charge of a regular-season production. "Walker has spent his whole life trying to be something he's not, trying to please Ned, who has remained mute to him."

Gathered in Ned's dusty Greenwich Village loft -- where he and Theo once were roommates -- Walker, Nan and Pip are briefly heartened by the discovery of Ned's secret journal, found stuffed beneath his mattress, which they hope will at last reveal something of the man's interior life. Yet Ned proves even less communicative on the page than in person -- his first entry, from 30 years before, blandly reports "three days of rain." It's typical, Walker and Nan decide, of their passionless, monosyllabic father.

Which brings us to Act II, set some 30 years previously in the same New York apartment. The same three actors portray three new characters --the young Ned (Olson), the young Theo (Macke) and the vibrant young Lina (Mulvaney), Walker and Nan's mother. The dust is dispelled, an air of optimism reigns.

Three Days of Rain Who: Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences What: A comedy-drama by Richard Greenberg; directed by Eddie Kurtz Where: The A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre, located in Room 208, Mallinckrodt Student Center When: 8 p.m. Jan. 17 and 18; 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Jan. 19; 2 p.m. Jan. 20 Tickets: $8 for Washington University faculty, staff and students and for senior citizens; $12 for the general public. Available at Edison Theatre Box Office 935-6543 or through all MetroTix outlets. For more information, call 935-5858.

"It's magical, romantic, full of life," said Kurtz of the second half. "We see that almost every assumption Walker and Nan have made about their parents is completely wrong. Which raises the question: If you can find a kind of peace by reaching certain conclusions, does it matter if those conclusions are false?

"The play is beautifully constructed as a mirror -- the two acts reflect each other in a myriad of ways, large and small," Kurtz added. "Charlie plays both Ned, who's stammering, nervous, very internal, and Walker, who's a bit of a drama queen. Very different characters, but they inhabit the same actor's body. And no matter how talented an individual actor may be, there are inherent qualities of voice and mannerism that will inevitably show up in both roles.

"I hope the audience will find the combined effects of the two acts both thoroughly entertaining and ultimately relative to their own lives," Kurtz concluded. "Everyone has parents and, like it or not, those relationships will follow us throughout our lives, for better or worse."

The set design is by junior Caitlin Lainoff, with costumes by Sallie Durbin, costume shop supervisor. Lighting and sound are by senior Daniel Schnitzer and Matthew Pickar, respectively.

Tickets are $8 for University faculty, staff and students and for senior citizens; $12 for the general public. Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre Box Office, at 935-6543, and through all MetroTix outlets.