17 actors will take the stage tonight to perform “The Rimers of Eldritch,” LAB! Theatre’s first main stage show of the season.
The play, written in 1966 by Lanford Wilson, centers on the residents of a mid-20th century coal mining town in Missouri.
Time in the play passes in a non-linear, collage-like fashion. Every character remains onstage for the entirety of the performance.
With a murder trial setting a frame for the action, the play examines the lives of people who are staying in the town out of fear, said Tyler Burt, the play’s director.
“There are so many different characters and so many different subplots going on,” said Kayla Gibson, a member of the cast. “They just go back and forth.”
The script examines the town’s moral character as its residents enter a psychological conspiracy, said Daniel Freeman, another cast member.
“Based on little snippets that you see as different people react, you see the moral shortcomings of every character of the show,” he said.
In the way it treats its characters and plot, the play is like a novel, Burt said.
“You get moments that have meaning beyond just the action and what’s happening in the lives of the characters,” he said.
Burt said he wanted to direct the play after reading only the first five pages of Wilson’s script.
“I got this vision of the town as a place that started to move back in the earlier history of ritualized practice and spiritual belief,” he said.
“Their technology is modern, but their attitudes have reverted back to an almost pagan aesthetic and culture.”
The dialogue and aesthetics led to a creepy yet intriguing atmosphere, Freeman said.
“We hint at some really horrible, taboo things that are kind of disturbing,” he said.
Burt said different people will notice different aspects and effects of the play and that the final scene will be a revelation of the mystery.
Freeman said that his work with the play continuously surprised him and the other cast members.
“As we have been working through the play, we realized some new, deep hidden meanings every day,” Freeman said.
“We got to see how everything was going to come together in a very focused yet creepy way.”
See “The Rimers of Eldritch” Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. Admission is free.
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