Through March 24
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC Road Less Traveled Productions
For those who seek redemption, they don’t always recognize the Devil is in the vicinity or there would be no need to be redeemed.
For Ike Holter’s “The Light Fantastic,” the Devil is in the vicinity in the rural Indiana area where this tale resides.
It’s that kind of place where everyone knows everything about everybody.
My family once lived in a home served by a party line, so there were no secrets about anything said over the phone and you could occasionally hear breathing.
Grace (Leah Berst) was a local wild child and, at one point, disappeared into Chicago.
Some weren’t surprised because her mother Fiona (Diane DiBernardo) was well known for wild behavior in her youth.
Holter starts the play and sets the scene using a local cop, Harriet (Davida Evette Tolbert), who knows Grace and her history.
The deputy sheriff was called to Eddie’s old, battered house when Grace hears noises and Harriet,
The deputy, scoffs at the idea of a burglar.
She’s wrong.
Peter the burglar (Greg Howze) robs the place and shoots Grace.
She survives.
There’s no evidence about why the burglar and who he is.
Boyfriend Eddie (Alejandro Gabriel Gómez) is now on the scene trying to help Grace deal with what happened.
Fiona arrives to help, accompanied by a shrink friend, Adam (Ricky Needham).
The story gets very tangled from here on.
It becomes supernatural, lights, thunder and lighting, colorful fog and disappearances.
The Devil (Howze) appears, although he claims to be just minion Rufus, not the Boss.
Gradually, Grace realizes the price of saving her friends and relatives is her life, submission to the Devil.
Rufus is really smooth, lubricating Grace’s path downwards.
Grace is a lot of things, but isn’t dumb and fights back.
The end result?
Go to the theater and find out for yourself.
The play is a little up and down, with life problems beaten into the ground in what is an extended one-act play.
Howze makes it all work, as the devil is in the details of the planned bargain.
As usual with the RLTP, it’s a wonderful set with amazing work from sound designer Katie Menke on the projection design and John Rickus and Lou Iannone for special effects which are elaborate for a local theater.
Tolbert and Berst are strong in this twisted tale.
Co-directors Scott Behrend and John Hurley do well in making it all fall into place, with action moving quickly around the set.
“The Light Fantastic” might make you think about the price people pay for misbehavior.
A.W.
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