There are few reunions in contemporary theater as morbidly comic as the one between elderly aunt Grace (Helen Stenborg) and her middle-aged nephew Kemp (Malcolm Gets) in Morris Panych's
Vigil, currently getting a belated New York premiere production at the DR2 Theater. Under Stephen DiMenna's uneven direction, the play's comedy often registers as more morbid than morbidly funny. Nonetheless the heart of the play beats through.

As the play opens, Grace and Kemp haven't had contact in 30 years -- unless you count his annual unanswered letters -- when he's summoned to her neglected apartment to sit vigil at her deathbed. But instead of dying as expected, she hangs on, and on -- through weeks,[...]