The Light Years

The Light Years

Playwrights Horizons

March 18, 2017

Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

The Light Years, now running at Playwrights Horizons, is a story of inspiration and ingenuity.  The story covers forty years, and takes place during the 1893 and 1933 Chicago World’s Fairs.  Playwrights Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen weave fact and fiction into a heartfelt story of struggle, loss, and persistence.  Director Oliver Butler chooses a distinctive style for the production that captures the spirit of the time period.

Rocco Sisto, Aya Cash, & Erik Lochtefeld
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Steele MacKaye (played by Rocco Sisto) has a vision for the grandest theatre ever built.  In it he will mount his most spectacular production, telling the story of Christopher Columbus’ journey across the Atlantic Ocean.  Around the proscenium the audience will see the constellations that guided Columbus.  This might be a small technological feat for present day theatre, yet this vision was to be constructed for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, when electric light was first being introduced.  Hillary (played by Erik Lochtefeld) and Hong Sling (played by Brian Lee Huynh) are the inventors of the mechanical contraptions envisioned by Mr. MacKaye.  Is the vision too great to be achieved?  What keeps these ideas alive for forty years, connecting them to the Chicago World's Fair of 1933?

Aya Cash & Erik Lochtefeld
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

The production does an amazing job of traveling forward and back over time.  The actors create a clear illusion that makes it easy and enjoyable to follow.  Aya Cash plays two roles.  First we see her as Adeline, Hillary’s wife in 1893, then as Ruth, the wife a musician in 1933.  Ms. Cash skillfully creates the emotional connection that links the two stories over the forty year span of the play.  The entire cast does an amazing job with this well written and constructed script, yet the stylistic concept of the characterizations does not allow for a personalized connection to the audience.

The design (sets by Laura Jellinek, lighting by Russell H. Champa, and sound by Lee Kinney) give a clear insight into the size and scope of Mr. MacKaye’s visionary theatrical production and the challenges faced by the characters due to the technological limitations of the day.  This makes the story well worth seeing.  The Light Years runs at playwrights Horizons through April 2.

Domenick Danza