I was ultimately so thrilled and so moved by “Down to Chance” that, right after leaving the show, when I saw two strangers who happened to be holding a flyer for it, I described the play with such enthusiasm that one of them asked me whether I was working for the company.

“No, I’m a critic. See my badge?”
“That could be fabricated.”

The subject of the play, an earthquake in Alaska in 1964, didn’t hold any inherent fascination for me. What initially impressed me was the cleverness and dexterity with which the two performers (Ellie Jay Cooper and Robert Merriam), under director Caleb Barron,  portrayed some twenty characters, seamlessly switching from one to another to another with the addition of a hat or scarf or jacket (grabbing the needed accessory without our even noticing from a rack on stage) or with merely a shift in voice or posture.  

But “Down to Chance” winds up becoming a riveting drama, driven by a genuinely challenging ethical dilemma.

The play, written by Cooper based on extensive research, tells a true story that focuses on a woman named Genie Chance, whose husband Winston had moved the family up from Texas five years earlier. She has gotten a job on a local Anchorage radio station, her tasks usually no more taxing than what she was planning to cover this particular day, a local parade on Good Friday.  Then the earthquake hits — at a magnitude of 9.2, still the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded. General James Whittaker of the National Guard, who happens to be visiting from Juneau, takes charge of rescue and recovery efforts, with limited manpower, and no communication with the outside world. Genie tries to help, sneaking her way into the general’s meetings, and calmly informing listeners of what’s going on and how to stay safe. The general at first sees her as a nuisance. Genie’s husband also registers his disapproval; she should be home with her family. This feeling is at first echoed by Mrs. Ambrose, even though she has come to the station hoping Genie has information about her son (a classmate of Genie’s son), who has gone missing. 

The clear implication is that they see her gender as disqualifying her for the role she has taken on. But Genie, while clearly hurt by all the disapproval, is committed: “People need to know what is going on and what they need to do.” Gradually her efforts become crucial, as she not only informs the public, but helps organize them, coordinating volunteers to clear the main street, and serving as point person for those who take their own initiative,  such as Walt Sauerbier, a crusty eccentric who operates a ham radio and is able to make contact with operators outside Alaska.

Genie’s clueless young assistant Dom is tasked with coming up with (what we now call) content on the radio so that the Alaskans will keep listening to the station in-between Genie’s important, intermittent announcements. He enlists his friend Kathleen to sing Everly Brother songs, read from Abraham Lincoln, at one misbegotten moment playing charades, in what constitutes much of the humor in the play.

“Down to Chance” becomes a serious, high stakes gamble, the title taking on two meanings, when Genie learns that there might be a second earthquake coming that would be even worse than the first. Should she tell her listeners? She decides not to, convinced it would cause a panic that would result in needless loss of life, especially since the earthquake might not actually happen. The general is aghast. 

Whitaker: These are actual people out there Genie, sitting in their homes, listening to you like a lifeline. Have you forgotten that?
Genie: It’s because I know there are people listening that I know we cannot share this.

It’s to the credit of the production that we’re not as sure as she is. 

Kudos go to sound designer Nathan May and lighting designer Finley Bettsworth for helping us feel the danger the characters face despite the tiny stage, and for the Maybe You Like It theater company as a whole, based in Cornwall, England, for plucking a now-obscure moment from American history and making it matter.

*****Down to Chance is performing through August 25 at Beside at Pleasance Courtyard, part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.