Clementine Thomas in “Voices Underwater”.Rorschach hasn’t lost its immersive touch.
The theater company, which hasn’t done a full-fledged production in more than a year, is back with a new show in a new space, performing Voices Underwater in a tiny, almost hidden black box within the The National Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts. The venue has been repurposed to become a tight, shoddy attic, where a young couple waits out a scary rainstorm in a house haunted with secrets.
Director Jenny McConnell Frederick effectively uses visuals and sound to make the audience feel as trapped and claustrophobic as play’s characters do — rain slips through the rafters, spirits creep around corners unexpectedly, and there’s a real sense of danger to the production. The house has been somewhat inexplicably inherited by Emma (Kari Ginsburg), who decides to crash there for the night with her boyfriend Franklin (Ricardo Frederick Evans) before they sign the papers. They’re soon to discover that the place has an eerie history, having housed wounded soldiers (Julie Garner is Albert, one of them) and servants, as well as served as a home for the conflicted daughter of a Klu Klux Klan leader (Clementine Thomas). Spectres begin to make appearances and the lines between the spirit world and reality become blurred.