Paul Osborn's gentle comedy centers on Laura Merrick, a middle-aged wife and mother who finds her carefully settled domestic life upended when Winthrop Rodman, an old flame from her youth, unexpectedly returns to town and reawakens memories of the romantic possibilities she long ago set aside. Suddenly restless within her comfortable but unglamorous marriage to her steady husband Augustus, Laura allows herself to indulge in fantasies of what her life might have been, much to the quiet consternation of her family, including a daughter who is navigating her own romantic choices and watching her mother with a mixture of amusement and concern. Osborn treats Laura's midlife yearning with warmth rather than judgment, using her flirtation with the past to explore universal questions about aging, missed chances, and the pull of nostalgia against the value of a life actually lived. The comedy's title refers to the acrid but oddly cherished vinegar tree in the family's yard, a wry symbol for a marriage that may be more resilient, and more sweetly rooted, than Laura initially credits. Its sympathetic, bittersweet take on a woman reconsidering her choices made it a popular and relatable comedy for community theater audiences.

​