'72 Miles to Go' -- A Sweet, Sad Play About Deportation — No, Something Else

WHEN I SAW “72 MILES TO GO,” on March 8, 2020 — an ordinary Sunday in a bygone era (in other words, about a month ago) — it was clearly one thing. It was a drama about the grave flaws of the American immigration system and the pain it brings. It was about deportation, borders, citizenship and politics,

Now, as I write this — listening to the daily coronavirus news briefing of Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York — it is clearly another thing. “72 Miles to Go” is a play about separation.

KIDS TOGETHER, MOM APART Triney Sandoval, second from left, as the patriarch, with Jacqueline Guillen, Bobby Moreno and Tyler Alvarez as the children in the Roundabout Theater production of “72 Miles to Go.”

The headline for the review in The New York Times began with the words “A Crisis in Borders.” But the photograph used in the newspaper and its website suddenly seems more universal.

It was of Billy (Triney Sandoval), seated in a kitchen chair, a beaming smile transforming his face. He is leaning toward the tiny screen of his tiny smartphone, which is sitting on the kitchen table.

JUST A COUPLE OF AMERICAN KIDS. Guillen and Moreno in a scene from “72 Miles to Go.”

His wife, Anita (Maria Elena Ramirez), is on the other end of that call. It’s their anniversary, but they can’t be together.

Born in Mexico, Anita has been deported. No one is sure when or if she’ll be able to cross the border back to her home in Arizona. Two of her children were born here and are U.S. citizens. The third — a boy who came with her when she crossed the border long ago — doesn’t seem to realize his situation is different.

PARTNERS IN DRAMA At a rehearsal of “72 Miles to Go.” Hilary Bettis, left, the playwright, and Jo Bonney, the director,

The Times critic Laura Collins-Hughes called the production “thoughtful and restrained.” Its power, she wrote, was in “its simplicity and in the vividly average Americanness of its characters.”

I remember finding the play sweet and sad, with just the right amount of gentle humor. But I know that if I saw it again, the messages would come across even more intensely.

“72 Miles to Go,” by Hilary Bettis, directed by Jo Bonney, Laura Pels Theater, TK West 46th Street, roundabouttheatre.org. 1 hour 30 minutes (no intermission). It was a limited run, scheduled to. close on May 3, before all New York theaters were shut down in mid-March.