The Counter ***
By: Samuel L. Leiter October 9, 2024: At the center of the stage at the Laura Pels Theatre, where Meghan Kennedy's The Counter is being performed, is a tiny coffee shop, occupying perhaps one third of the space. Walt Spangler's intimate, almost claustrophobic set places us in a small New York town, somewhere "way upstate." A counter runs downstage from the shop's translucent upstage window, splitting the acting ar…