“Tell me, where is fancy bred,” Shakespeare asks us, “in the heart, or in the head?”

The answer to that question, courtesy of the new play “Shooting Star” now at Trinity Repertory Company is, happily, both. Well-directed by Fred Sullivan Jr. and superbly acted by real-life husband and wife Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson, the play is an absolute delight, one of the smartest and funniest romantic comedies I’ve encountered in some time. Though this “Shooting Star” is only eighty minutes long it is, like the phenomenon that it’s named for, a tiny bit of sheer incandescence, an experience that leaves one joyful and a little awestruck.

“The world is not small ... near misses happen all the time,” we are told by one of the characters in this two-person play, and “Shooting Star” depicts just such a chance encounter. Reed McAllister and Elena Carson were involved with each other during college; now 25 years later, they bump into each other at a snowed-in airport. They’ve each gone down separate paths in life; he’s in business, she’s still a free spirit. On paper it sounds predictable, let me assure you that there’s nothing formulaic about what then unfolds.

What sets this play apart from its plot setup is the rich detail with which each of its characters are drawn and playwright Steve Dietz’s sharp ear for dialogue. “Shooting Star” is filled with witty and pithy observations on life and love in our reckless times. It is a rarity indeed to find a play so quietly moving and laugh-out-loud funny. Rarer still is that these moments of insight and hilarity flow from the too recognizable reality of two wholly realized characters.

From the outset Reed and Elena are so engaging simply because they engage us; speaking directly to the audience as well as to each other, we are privy to their thoughts and feelings. It is as if each of our twin narrators were confiding in us; in the audience we feel as if we were sitting across the kitchen table from an old friend, talking well into the night. It is their well-drawn familiarity that is so endearing. Though a business man and an earth mother, Reed and Elena aren’t caricatured archetypes; instead, they’re just typical, if we feel like we’ve known them all our lives it’s because we probably have.

The difference here is that Reed and Elena are a lot funnier and more insightful than most of our circle of friends, as their lines are provided by Steve Dietz and they’re portrayed by Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson. Mr. Rhoads is earnest and quietly impassioned as Reed, a middle-aged man stuck in a suburban life of quiet desperation. Nance Williamson is a riot as Elena — all the more so because she just seems to truly believe that organic cooking could make the world a better place.

The chemistry between the two actors cannot be denied; even when far apart an electric current seems to flow to and from each other. Their collective sense of verisimilitude does considerable justice to Deitz’s exceptionally well-drawn characters; from the get-go each rings absolutely true.

All this is guided quite admirably by the focused and flowing direction of Fred Sullivan, Jr. Mr. Sullivan understands full well the importance of keeping the audience engaged by having his actors simply speaking to each other with absolute conviction. The emotional ties between the two are always kept taut; we’re with them all the way because they are so wholly invested in each other.

The set design by Patrick Lynch is a sleek and streamlined as the dialogue in “Shooting Star” – all shiny chrome and glass over a faux marble floor. William Lane’s costumes are rich in meticulous detail as is the lighting by John Ambrosone.

Toward the end of “Shooting Star,” Elena extols about hearing a cello play, remarking on “the sound something that simple can make.” This play is a lot like that sound. A chance encounter between two people is simple enough, but oh, how it can resonate. Contained within the too-brief confines of “Shooting Star” is the thrill of that same soaring sweep across the heartstrings. There is a reference to a maze, too, that Elena makes and that’s a final and apt metaphor for this show. Like Reed and Elena, we’ve all felt a little lost and bemused as we thread our way along the pathways of our lives. And in our search for love along the way, aren’t we all just terminal cases?

‘Shooting Star’

WHERE: Trinity Rep, Chace Theater, 201 Washington St., Providence

WHEN: Through Nov. 22; see website for show times

COST: $20 to $65

MORE INFO: 351-4242 or www.trinityrep.com