Two janitors walk into the same room every day to clean a space that never gets clean. They have one mop, no brooms and a building that will not give them water. That is the whole setup of Broom Play, a new one-act tragicomedy now running in its world premiere at the Players Theatre on MacDougal Street through Sunday, Nov. 29.

What the play is

The two men are Jerryll and Harr', and the production describes their days as a loop of quarrels, habit and the hope that tomorrow will be different. One of them has stopped wanting anything and calls it peace. The other still believes life could turn into something more. The show is built on clowning and physical action rather than long speeches, and it runs about an hour and a half.

The detail that sets it apart: according to the listing on TDF, the play has multiple endings, and its form shifts from one performance to the next. Two people who see it on different nights may not see the same finish.

The company frames the piece as a return to the European theater of the absurd, nodding to Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco, the playwrights behind Waiting for Godot and The Bald Soprano.

Who is behind it

Matte Kranz wrote the play, produces it and plays Jerryll. He is a Polish American actor and filmmaker from the California Bay Area who is now studying for an MFA in acting at Columbia University, and his training includes clown, stage combat, fencing and corporeal mime. Mike Donovan, an actor and writer from Buffalo, plays Harr'. Egor Trukhin directs and is associate producer, and XYZ Theatricals presents the production.

The room itself

Broom Play is staged in the Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre, the small space on the third floor of the Players Theatre. The box office notes it is up two flights of stairs and there is no elevator. Questions about access can go to the theater's box office by email at boxoffice@theplayerstheatre.com before you buy.

Dates and times

Previews began Thursday, Nov. 5, and the production opened Saturday, Nov. 7. The run is three weeks, closing Sunday, Nov. 29. The box office lists two shows today, Sunday, Nov. 8, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and 7 p.m. curtains on Thursday, Nov. 12, Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14. Later dates and prices are on the production's ticket page.

How to go

The Players Theatre is at 115 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, between West Third and Bleecker Streets. The A, B, C, D, E, F and M trains stop at West Fourth Street and Washington Square, a short walk away. Tickets are sold online through the production's site, broomplay.com, which links to the theater's box office.

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