They brought us down Alice’s rabbit hole in a former school building in Williamsburg meticulously made over to resemble a mental hospital in Then She Fell, took us to a tropical island resort in a former Bushwick warehouse for The Grand Paradise,” backstage at Lincoln Center for Ghost Light; Shakespeare’s Athens in a Union Square café for “Midsummer A Banquet”; even to outer space, online, in “Return The Moon”. Now Third Rail Projects is back, with the most adventurous expedition yet – into our own heart.

“True Love Forever,” a literally lovely show created and directed by Jennine Willett, one of the three artistic directors of Third Rail Projects, invites audience members to explore our personal experiences with love – inventively, memorably, sometimes uncomfortably.

“If you’ve ever been ghosted, stand up and line up to the right,” instructed Edward Rice, one of the seven performers at the performance I attended. About a half dozen stood. “If you’ve ever ghosted someone, stand up and line up to the left,” he said then. About an equal number (braver?) stood to the left. Then another cast member brought flowers to those who ghosted, and instructed them to bring the flowers to those who were ghosted, and apologize.

Among the other admissions we are asked to make publicly: if we’ve cheated; we’ve destroyed an ex’s possessions; we’ve had our heart broken. But less vulnerably if we ever met someone on public transportation that turned into a date.

For most of the 90 minutes of “True Love Forever,” the performers offer a series of interpretive dances — some acrobatic, some snuggly, some droll; mostly in pairs, sometimes group hugs — accompanied by songs composed by English recording artist Coyle Girelli, primarily from his 2018 debut solo album entitled “Love Kills,” which he sings in the show backed by a quartet of musicians he has put together that he calls “The Heartbreak Band.” Despite his downbeat titles, it should be said that, in his Elvis-like velvety baritone, Girelli sounds sexy more than sad

Here is a music video of the title song, featuring cast members for the show, especially Devika Chandnani and Noah LaPook

The show doesn’t just focus on our heartbreak and break-ups. At one point, one of the performers asks all those members of the audience to stand up if they are in a  couple. Most of the audience stands. Then he asks those to remain standing who have been together for more than a year (most remain standing). Five years (many sit). Ten years. 20 years. 25 years. 30 years. Two couples remain standing – one who has been together for 44 years, the other for 51. The cast gives all four lovers red corsages. 

 “True Love Forever” doesn’t exclude those still looking. In the drollest of the dances, each dancer puts together an online dating profile, using only dance moves for each category (for hobbies, one plays air guitar; another mimics fencing), Instructed “we need  to show that you have friends,” each dancer picks a member of the audience with whom to mock-pose for a selfie.

For its limited run this year (Third Rail promises more in 2025), “True Love Forever” takes place at ART X NYC, a new combination store/gallery/event space  located in a fashionably barren stretch of the Meatpacking District.  Unlike previous Third Rail productions, the audience for most of the time stays put, sitting in chairs on three sides of a stage that’s really just a floor; there is minimal design. Only once are we split into groups of about half a dozen each, and taken to different corners, where we collaborate on choosing the best breakup lines from those printed on a pile of strips of paper. (e.g. “I’m just not ready for a serious relationship”) We  tape the chosen lines on a piece of paper, which, after we return to our chairs, the cast put their hearts into reciting.

Those who arrive early to ART X NYC – doors open twenty minutes before showtime – are ushered to a table with a red felt tablecloth, each presided over by one of the performers, who asks you to turn over one of the playing cards, which are face down. The cards have the surreal logo design of the show, and when   you turn them over, they ask questions like: “Do you believe in love at first sight?”, “What is the most romantic thing that anybody has ever done for you” and “Breaking up is hard to do. What is your medium – text, call, or face to face?”

This seemed like the sort of questions the contestants are asked on “The Bachelor,” “Love is Blind” and, most notoriously, “The Dating Game.” But TV shows like “The Dating Game” encouraged snarky or salacious answers, seeming to mock intimacy. “True Love Forever” treats love less like a game than a dance. And by the end of the show, the cast has gotten every member of the audience up to dance with them.

True Love Forever
ART X NYC
 November 21 – 23 and December 13 – 15 with performances at 6:30pm and 9pm
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $100
Written, directed and choreographed by Jennine Willett
Music, lyrics, original score and sound design by Coyle Girelli
Costume design by Alexandra and Juliana of Atelier Abene, lighting design Nicole Lang, stage manager Peter Farr
Cast: Devika Chandnani, Noah LaPook, Marissa Nielsen-Pincus, Jenna Purcell, Edward Rice, Konata Stallings, and Ryan Wuestewald 
Band: Coyle Girelli, Simon Kafka, Hannah Winkler, Tim Lappin, and Dave LeBlanc.