Before heading upstairs to view ‘Planchette,’ each audience member was given a numbered sticker badge at the Writers &
Books ticket desk. My hunch was proven correct — that these would function as a
means of selecting audience participation during the show. The witty production
is one part narrative theatre, one part magic show, though the lines between
those aspects are blurred so well that the engaged audience actively marveled
at the well-done sleight of hand and mind tricks.
Dr. Maxwell Fink (Rochester-born magician Brian M. Kehoe) is
slightly awkward and emphatic by turns as he explores the history of the Ouija
Board and discusses the development of The Fink Method for Contacting the
Dead™. Aided by his nervous assistant, Dr. Sarah Swanson (Baltimore-based
playwright Annelise Montone),
Fink guides the audience through the three tenets of his top secret method:
Trust, Cohesion, and Transmission.
Taking the concept and thrill of group collaboration involved
in Ouija to the max, Fink’s method involves performing a bunch of clever and
daring tricks billed as broadcast telepathy and the like. The progress of the
experiment is highly entertaining all the way to its logically creepy end, and
the actors set the audience up with some heebie-jeebies to take home and think
about later (you jerks!). Definitely go see one of the two remaining
shows.
Writers & Books on Thursday, September 22, at 9
p.m., and Saturday, September 24, at 10 p.m. $18. Ages 13
and older.
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2016.
