'The Gin Game' runs September 10-29 at the Regency Room in Bristol

BRISTOL, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The Bristol Riverside Theatre is presenting 'The Gin Game' at the nearby Regency Room inside Goodwill Hose Co. #3 - Station 52. Jon Marans is directing the production.

Marans says the play centers around two "idiosyncratic people" that have found themselves in "a really difficult situation."

They play the hands they're dealt, so to speak.

"They have landed themselves, because of their health, in an old age home," says Marans. "And they really just want to be back in the game again, really, the game of life."

The theatre's former artistic director, Keith Baker, plays Weller Martin.

"He hates living in this place," says Baker. "He hasn't lost his sense of humor, but he is also a man who has never won anything in his life."

He plays solitaire, until he meets his match.

"I'm playing Fonsia Dorsey," says Zuhairah McGill. "She is a woman who was very astute in her community, had a lot of friends, going out, enjoying life. And now, she's reduced to being placed in this home, where she feels she doesn't belong here."

They begin a conversation, and a game of gin.

"The game becomes a kind of salvation for both of them," says Baker. "They still have a tremendous amount of life left in them."

He says the two begin to "tell stories to each other."

"They slowly begin to find out more and more about each other, accidentally, both the good things about them, and sort of the secrets and lies," says Marans.

The dramedy earned Playwright D.L. Coburn the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Marans says the play is "just as relevant today as it was back then."

The Regency Room will be redesigned with alley staging.

"Since the stage is in the middle, you are gonna be so close to the actors, you're gonna feel like you're right in the middle of seeing these people's lives unfold," says Marans.

"These characters end up caring about each other," says McGill.

And there's an uplifting message.

McGill says that even though Fonsia and Weller are dealing with "all of these issues," there's always a way around it.

"There's always hope," she says.

"They find that solace, and that hope, in each other," says Baker.

"Enjoy every moment of the game of life as long as you can," says Marans.

'The Gin Game' runs September 10 - 29 at The Regency Room in Bristol, PA.

Bristol Riverside Theatre presents 'The Gin Game' | Tickets
The Regency Room (inside Goodwill Hose Co. #3 - Station 52)
190 Mifflin Street, Bristol, PA 19007