SHERMAN — There are three sides to every story, as the old saying goes: yours, mine and the truth. That is the central exploration of Donald Margulies’ 2000 Pulitzer-Prize-winning play Dinner with Friends, now being staged at The Sherman Playhouse.

Margulies digs into the themes of marriage, friendship and ravages of time on both. The four-character play opens with the revelation that Beth’s (Erin Shaughnessy) husband of 12 years, Tom, (Chris Luongo) has left her. She shares this with the couple’s best friends, Gabe (Chris Bird) and Karen (Stacey Lee-Frome), at a dinner party during which Tom is noticeably absent.

From there the play jumps around in time, giving the audience a look into the foursome’s dynamics over the last 12 years. This story structure is now commonplace entertainment in a post-This is Us day, but it is still fascinating to watch it play out live on stage. It’s very much a slice of life piece, with much of the dialogue feeling uncomfortably real for some audience members.

Director Terry Sagedy has done a great job navigating this deceptively simple piece. While the staging seems pretty straightforward and natural, any theater person can tell you this is incredibly difficult to achieve on stage. Kudos to him. The show also takes place in quite a few locations. Sagedy and Al Chiapetta’s seamless design make for quick transitions.

Erin Shaughnessy brings a strong and incredibly nuanced performance as Beth, the artist, whose marriage has fallen apart. This play is a feast for actors and Shaughnessy doesn’t miss a bite. To watch a character’s journey, especially Beth’s, backwards and then sideways takes deft skill.

Playing Tom, her husband … ahem, ex-husband … is Chris Luongo. There is a major reason why Luongo is a staple of local theater. He can always be counted on for a strong performance.

His dynamic with Shaughnessy is palpable. While Margulies’s script doesn’t leave much room for him to be anything other than a villain, Luongo does a wonderful job at bringing a humanity to the role, which leaves the audience sympathetic.

While the story focus is the dissolution of Beth and Tom’s marriage, the undercurrent is what happens when friendships also begin to break apart. Playing those friends are Chris Bird and Stacy Lee-Frome. The latter is a Playhouse favorite, recently giving a wonderful performance in the also Sagedy-helmed Evelyn in Purgatory. The same can be said here. Frome and Bird are a nice balance to Luongo and Shaughnessy.

Chris Bird, as Tom’s best friend and confidant, gives a heartbreakingly real performance as Gabe. The entire play his Gabe is the grounded and level-headed voice of reason, so it is devastating to watch his realization that maybe what he thought was true turns out to be anything but.

A fascinating and entertaining case study on the human condition, Dinner With Friends should spark conversation all the way home from the theater. The Sherman Players production runs through April 19. Tickets and more info can be found at shermanplayers.org.