Jayson Lee Photo by Roman Iwasiwka

The playwright lost each of his parents between 2020 and 2024 and he has fashioned, perhaps in response, a most personal play. Before the actual performance begins, director Steph Paul has the audience ushered in through a side door onto and across the stage which contains all the items marked as ready for sale. For example, there's a small keyboard for $10 and both a plant and a chair listed for $15. A rack of clothing including suit jackets is situated at the back of the stage and one could also buy a bike or small, old TV. Scenic designer You-Shin Chen's set is ingeniously clever and it lends immediacy to the 70-minute play.

Executor (Jayson Lee) is the focal character who greets the audience. He poses some questions for those in attendance and lightly jokes around. This serves to break the ice, so to speak, but some will find the device questionable. We do learn that Executor is a young, conflicted man who has lost his mother and father. Executor is the activist individual who reveals his past and will soon disclose innermost feelings and reflections. One never learns his or anyone else's given name and it is appropriate to respect this as a writer's choice but, frankly, I miss more conventional names.

It takes a few moments to discern just who Youth (Christopher B. Portley) is. Wearing a bright pink shirt and ball cap pitched backwards on his head, he appears to be someone wandering in who just might buy a few of the items. We soon learn that he knew Executor and the parents, too, for quite some time. Hence, he has a past with Executor. Executor's parents are called Beauty (Gillian Glasco) and Truth (Blake Morris). Author Gipson's delineation is impressively detailed.

A late scene finds Executor on stage with Beauty and Truth. Youth has temporarily gone off. Playwright Gipson now supplies searingly intense dialogue, words packed with emotion, for the three characters. An already valuable play becomes more gripping as its urgency heightens. Youth certainly has a place in the over-arching scripting, but the acute, concentrated power of the three-person dialogue is striking through its authenticity. Youth returns for an important concluding sequence with Executor. The production builds to a crescendo with the conversation and is fully immersive thereafter. The final quarter hour is persuasively engaging and absorbing.

Jayson Lee positively dominates the production with a bravura performance. Making his Barrington Stage debut, he has credits on stage as well as TV and film. He is able to call upon a variety of emotions as he taps into Executor's inner self. It's all the more remarkable since he began the proceedings by sashaying about the set while mouthing lyrics to songs and appealing to nearby theatre patrons.

The three supportive performers are all first rate. Gillian Glasco appeared in Doubt on Broadway and has performed at a multitude of regional theatre companies. Blake Morris has taken part in productions in New York and Boston, and has been cast in a number of television series. Christopher B. Portley has Off-Broadway, film, and TV credits. Director Steph Paul creates a winning balance on the St. Germain Stage as her choices afford each actor opportunities while acknowledging that Executor is at the center of the show.

Keelay Gipson is described in the playbill notes as "an Afro-Surrealist writer and educator whose plays include demons." With a keen ear, Gipson writes piercingly descriptive dialogue for actors. We find through Estate Sale that he is an unafraid experimenter, too. More power to Gipson for having the confidence to risk. This is a bold, new play and time will tell whether or not the playwright and other creatives who collaborated on this production will make any further adjustments.

Estate Sale runs through July 25, 2026, at Barrington Stage Company, 36 Linden St., Pittsfield MA. For tickets and information, please call 413-242-6411 or visit barringtonstageco.org.