The long-awaited world premiere of Etan Frankel’s two-person play, Paralyzed, has finally come to Florida Studio Theatre’s Bowne’s Lab in its Stage III series. And while its original performance dates were postponed due to Covid-19 shutdowns, its message may feel more relevant coming after those hardest pandemic days.

Frankel’s play begins with a character, Leigh (Rachel Moulton), quoting the old adage, “If you want to make God laugh, show him your plans.” She and another Lee (Alexander Stuart) have found their life plans disrupted and challenged in the face of some choices made or roads not taken.

But to me, another oft-quoted phrase serves Paralyzed well, too: E.M. Forster’s “Only connect” from the novel Howard’s End. While Leigh and Lee are very different characters, with very different stories, their lives can benefit from more connection.

Most of the 90-minute play takes place in monologues, with the actors not facing or seemingly being aware of each other. They tell us details of their childhoods, adolescences and adulthoods that led them to a moment where a mysterious suicide note left in a motel bathroom involves them in the same dilemma.

As earnest, perhaps naïve statistician Leigh tells us, she’s wanted to help the world ever since she was a child, the daughter of a minister and an ardent reader of The Diary of Anne Frank. But her efforts seem to go awry, whether it’s playing an unwitting part in deaths in Rwanda or accidentally altering the hopes of a young African boy she takes into her home. And her romantic life is virtually nonexistent.

Lee, on the other hand, comes across as a good ol’ Southern boy with a gift for football, a hint of arrogance and a lasting love for a high school girlfriend. When his future blows up in his face following an incident on the football field, he hits bottom in terms of drinking, job opportunities and relationships.

We gradually (perhaps a little too gradually) come to know them and empathize with their feelings of guilt and responsibility. Under Meg Gilbert’s direction, the two actors are convincing, offering a mix of humor, despair and vulnerability; and when they finally do “connect” (in a twist many in the audience may not see coming), it’s emotionally powerful.

Paralyzed continues through April 21 at Bowne’s Lab; for tickets, call (941) 366-9000 or go to floridastudiotheatre.org.