Early on in Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Dinner with Friends,” — on stage through June 7 at The Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls — Gabe poses a simple but profound question.

When he learns that Tom, his friend of 24 years, is leaving  Beth, his wife of 12 years, he asks: “How can he walk away?”

Gabe knows that Tom’s decision will change forever the way he and his wife, Karen, interact with Tom and Beth.

Those summers at Martha’s Vineyard? Gone.

Those lovingly prepared dinners? Kaput.

Two couples growing old and fat together? Not gonna happen.

If Beth feels abandoned, so does Gabe.

“It’s like a death, isn’t it?” he wonders later.

Directed by Schoolhouse artistic director Pamela Moller Kareman, the production features Ken Larson’s inviting set — a wash of cedar shakes, beams, slate and stone — effective lighting by David Pentz and costumes by Kimberly Matela.

Steve Perlmutter and Quinn Cassavale are food writers Gabe and Karen, who wax poetically, competitively and ad nauseum about their food travels and about food itself. These are people who don’t mind taking your time as they search for just the right word to describe what they’ve just eaten.

Christopher Yates is Tom, an attorney, and Jolynn Baca is his would-be-artist wife, whose free spirit long ago took a backseat to familial duties.

If she feels trapped, so does Tom. But when Tom does the unthinkable and strays, Beth loses her bearings.

Margulies plays with the clock a bit — Act 1 is now, Act 2 starts more than 12 years earlier and then jumps back to present day — but it works: Knowing where they’re going makes us see how they started in a different light.

Perlmutter shows Gabe’s confidence evaporating as genuine confusion starts to bleed through. What is he going to do without Tom in his life? It’s written all over his face.

His sharp delivery — this is a foodie who bites at his words — is a perfect foil for Cassavale’s cool, thoughtful Karen.

The tone Cassavale employs when evaluating a cake she’s made — “did I beat the eggs too much?” — shows up later, when Karen coolly evaluates her relationship with Beth.

Yates’ Tom exudes charm and, later, the zeal of the converted, as he reinvents himself.

As Beth, Baca demonstrates a realistic dynamic range, speaking softly at times and exploding at others. Beth lets people know what’s on her mind and Baca plays that well.

While each actor seems to grasp his or her role, they lack the chemistry, the ease, of long friendships.

Later, when those connections are strained, the loss feels somehow less compelling.

Still, Margulies’ points are well-taken. In an age when our friends are sometimes closer than our families, a split can have ground-shifting ramifications.

When Gabe and Karen come to terms with where they’ve been and what lies ahead, the moment is poignant and clear.

It reminds me of the great Alan and Marilyn Bergman lyric to a Johnny Mandel song, called “Where Do You Start?”

“Our lives are tangled like the branches of a vine

That intertwine.

So many habits that we’ll have to break

And yesterdays we’ll have to take apart.”

Photo by Ron Marotta: Quinn Cassavale, left, Steve Perlmutter, Jolynn Baca and Christopher Yates star in “Dinner with Friends” at the Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls. The show runs through June 7.

‘Dinner with Friends’

Where: The Schoolhouse Theater, 3 Owens Road, Croton Falls.

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays. Through June 7.

Tickets: $28 on Thursdays and Fridays, $30 on Saturdays and Sundays.

Call: 914-277-8477.

Web: schoolhousetheater.org.