The Right Room

It’s hard to imagine what the show would be from descriptions. I see a David Hansen show, I’m going but I honestly didn’t expect a full century of stories smooshed down into a tiny hotel room told by 8 amazing actors. 8 actors, 8 audience members and an intimate and revealing generational collection of stories told beautifully and never once did the intimate feel crowded. The staging was deft and I was never at a loss of where to look or what story was being told. A truly immersive theater experience that has to be seen to be believed. No dark theater to hide the laughs or tears, either. While there was no physical or verbal interactions during the show, I’d imagine as an actor knowing the immediate impact of your performance must also be powerful. A rare shared experience. Highly recommend catching this of you can!

Last night’s performance of “The Right Room” was the most intimate theater I have experienced. An audience of just eight sat in chairs strategically placed throughout a single large hotel room. The actors were at times inches from any given audience member, but it was not an interactive performance. This intimacy added to the intensity of the storytelling. At certain moments (simulated sexual activity on the hotel bed for example) this intimacy was quite acute. We watched the story unfold as couples from three generations revealed their stories in sequences which frequently overlapped – sometimes actors across time said the exact same words simultaneously to delicious effect. The acting was very strong, with a highlight for me being the performances of Nicole Coury (Mathilda) and Zach Palumbo (Charles). Their authenticity and sweetness touched my heart. All the actors were engaging. At times I wondered if I was sensing echoes of Tennessee Williams in touches of Mason (Cole Tarantowski), as he in certain moments reminded me of the iconic Jim O’Connor from “The Glass Menagerie.” Jasmine Renee’s direction was outstanding. Pulling off clear storytelling in such an intimate space is no small challenge, and she nailed it. Serenity Grace Tate’s costumes were spot on, and I was comforted to see that Julia Fisher was engaged as Intimacy Director. For me, David Hansen’s work is always worth seeing. He’s such a smart, inventive playwright with a strong social conscious. I hope his play has a life beyond the wonderful Borderlight Festival. We all need to find ourselves in the right room.

The Right Room is a story of family and identity told through the eyes of the people who willfully and sometimes unwittingly create the familial bonds. The experience of sitting in a hotel room (fabulous room by the way – corner suite of the Crowne Plaza overlooking Playhouse Square!) watching the stories play out all around me – on the couch, the chairs, the bathroom and of course, the bed – was quite thrilling. The actors were ALL wonderful – every single actor brought vitality, humor and passion to their roles. The staging was delightfully inventive with precision timing. The play itself matched all of it’s fantastic parts. The characters and their stories have stayed with me. I loved the use of music as well. Such a great night of theater.

I had the amazing opportunity to see this show performed in a hotel room with an audience as large as the cast. Four stories of four couples played out over time in a masterfully choreographed hour within inches of my seat. As a story of one family, each story was unique but intertwined. It was intimate in obvious and subtle ways and the stories were relatable. Each character was incredibly human; in turns flawed, lonely, searching, funny, sad, excited, passionate, confused, and affected by people and a past they only partly understood.

Words and descriptions can’t prepare you for the experience of The Right Room. Being a non-interactive audience member barely inches from the play unfolding is both thrilling and unnerving. The play was captivating and engaging, the origin story of an adoption across generations. I kept finding myself distracted though by my fear that I would be the one to cough or sneeze and break the magic for everyone. (I didn’t!) The twists and turns of dialogue left me always wanting to know more about the characters, a strength for any storyteller. Bravo to David Hansen for bringing innovation in theater to life.