Time warp: 'Now and Then' at The Adobe Theater contemplates the past, explores youthful decisions

“Now and Then” by Sean Grennan explores youth coming face-to-face with their older selves in a mind-bending way.

The production, which runs Friday, Jan. 24, through Feb. 9, at The Adobe Theater, begins with a last minute patron walking into a bar as it gets ready to close. The patron offers the bartender and his girlfriend a lucrative incentive of $2,000, if the couple will sit and have a drink with him after last call.

When the couple begins to realize the patron is unusually invested in stories about their future together and other life choices, the patron provides an unbelievable explanation. Things then take a turn when a displeased second stranger arrives.

“It kind of fell in my lap and I was intrigued,” said director Robin Havens-Parker. “The line that grabbed me was, ‘If you could go back and talk to your younger self, would you do it? And what would you say?’ And so the show starts out, and I try not to do too much of a spoiler alert, but it’s kind of within a few pages, the audience pretty much figures out what’s going on.”

There are surprises throughout the show, which opens in 1981, with a young bartender named Jamie closing up the bar.

“There’s this strange flash of light outside, and he just thinks it’s an ambulance or something,” Parker said. “And then a few seconds later, a man walks into the bar and he wants to get a drink, even though it’s almost past last call, but he goes ahead and gives him a drink, and they start talking, and he finds out that Jamie’s an aspiring pianist, and he wants to really push forward as a musician.”

Jamie’s girlfriend, Abby, shows up and the trio swaps stories, including a hard to wrap your head around story by the patron.

“Just as he’s about ready to leave, there’s another flash of light and a woman walks in the door, and that’s the end of act one,” Parker said. “And then, the end of the show takes place in 2016, 35 years later ... It’s just fascinating. It’s their younger selves and their older selves coming face-to-face with each other.”

The production stars Jessica Alden, Mary Ellin Brooks, Graydon Clarke and Joe Marshall.

“It’s very well written,” Parker said. “It’s funny, it’s poignant. I mean, I know, it’s field cliche, but you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and I’ve got some really great actors in it too. So I’m just really thrilled with how this process has gone.”