BWW Reviews: Into the Minds of Brown Box Theatre Project's ECHOES

Last night, I walked into the office building turned performance space that is Atlantic Wharf, prepared to once again be continuously distracted by rowdy restaurant patrons and clumsy passerbys interrupting my theatrical experience. But this time, although the disruptions occurred as predicted, I hardly noticed the noise. I was too captivated by the haunting and kinetic production that was Brown Box Theatre Project's Echoes.

The mood of this emotionally charged drama by N. Richard Nash was immediately defined by the striking scenery: a looming, white, cubed structure filled with varying levels and platforms, all of which were hard, barren, and completely blank. That, combined with an eerily loud hospital beeping, made for a very sterile environment. The audience hardly dared to speak, even with the house lights up and people still piling in.

Perhaps that was because actors were present from the very start, lying strewn across the structure. We would eventually learn that the two were patients in a mental hospital, sharing their room and their lives with one another, creating and inventing their own private world. Both were nondescriptly unhinged, showing a wide range of symptoms, in what I assume was an attempt to represent a few different mental disorders. Through many fast paced and long winded conversations, the two each struggled through their murky pasts, their unbalanced presents, and their unknown futures. What could easily have been poking fun or caricatures instead was a really poignant, respectful character study; a glimpse into what living with a mental disorder might be like.

The cast consisted of Angela Jaymes as Tilda, a youthful and energetic young woman who tries to invent the world of which she dreams, Mac Young as Sam, her gentle and kind-eyed confidant who years for a home he fits into, and Kelly Chick as the mysterious and ominous outsider, with an ever-present eye on the action. The show was a marathon, with Tilda and Sam constantly talking and moving, and their commitment to one another was beautiful to watch. Jaymes especially had such a radiant vibrance to her, gracefully bounding around the structure like a monkey leaping from branch to branch.

The star of the production though was director Kyler Taustin, who faced challenges of making a play about two people talking to one another visually dynamic, creating accountability in what we could assume would be unreliable characters, and stage the entire show in the round. The show was varied and believable and the characters were crafted in a really stunning and sympathetic way. My only real critique is that stakes weren't incredibly high until real change was threatened at the end and the entire play seemed to lack a bit of an arch, an inherent risk that comes with a world in which the rules are consistently invented and reinvented. For the most part though, the ability to break all of the normal rules of storytelling made for a consistently exciting piece.

Taustin's direction, softly suggestive lighting design contrasted with the stark scenic design by Ben Lieberson, and the heartbreaking connection between the main characters made for a powerful explanation of mental illness from the inside out. As difficult as it was, I am grateful for the opportunity to be forced into these people's minds for an evening.

Direction by Kyler Taustin; Associate Producing by Anna Trachtman; Sound Design by Thomas Blanford; Costume Design by Emily Woods Hogue; Light and Scenic Design by Ben Lieberson
Featuring Kelly Chick, Angela Jaymes, and Mac Young

Brown Box Theatre Project's production of ECHOES by N. Patrick Nash ran at the Atlantic Wharf through February 8th. They will continue their run at the Ocean City Center for the Arts in Ocean City, Maryland for February 13-16th. For more information, visit their website: www.brownboxtheatre.org

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