You’re warned before you enter that once seated, you cannot leave the theater – and that there is no intermission. And that no food or drinks are allowed.
Ushers wearing hazmat suits require you to sign a waiver before showing you to your seat. Once you get over that, the theater seems non-threatening enough, but just wait. You’re about to see Backyard Renaissance in the world premiere of Tim Mulligan’s “Witchland,” and anything can happen.
The set looks to be a comfortable house of some sort. You’re in Seattle, where popular high-schooler Ali (Amira Temple) lives with her two dads Van (Daren Scott) and Jared (Christopher Louie Szabo). But the trio is about to move to Richland, a pastoral area in southeastern Washington state, because Jared has found more lucrative work there.
Richland is home to the Hanford Engineering Works, part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project that created much of the plutonium used in bombs (such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), creating tons of radioactive waste that has been held in underground tanks since the end of the Cold War.
Those tanks are leaking, and it’s expected to take 50 more years to clean up the environment. Jared will help in this endeavor.
The initial conversations between Ali, Jared and Van sound normal, even amusing, especially from Scott as Van. He gets a real chance for both comedy and drama here, and makes the most of it.
But soon they find out that their nearest neighbor is a witch. Strange sounds, thumps, squeaks, screeches and the like are heard. It’s unsettling, to say the least, though Van tries to minimize the fear.
Strange things continue to happen. There is talk of rats, lots of shaking humans, indecipherable chanting and – oh, yes – some sticks end up stuck in the ground at various times and locations. These are Not To Be Touched. There’s also some shaking going on, even what sounds like talking in tongues.
Is this magic or plutonium poisoning?
I don’t know, but let’s face it, Director Andrew Oswald has made this show a gift for the tech team as well as the audience. Tony Cucuzzella’s set looks normal while allowing for the weird, while a quartet of costumers – Faith A. James, Zak Weinrich, Lilymoon Perez and Jessica John – run the gamut from “normal” to otherworldly.
Lighting by Lorrena Harvey and sound by George Yé add to the occasional otherworldliness. And here’s a new job for the theater: Jeffrey Neitzel is responsible for both the usual – fight coordination – and the weird, serving as “haunt specialist.”
It’s weird, it’s wild, it’s something you won’t see anywhere else this season. But for a most unusual time in the theater, get down to the Tenth Avenue Arts Center before “Witchland” closes on Dec. 11.
“Witchland” plays through Dec. 11 at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 903 10th Avenue in downtown San Diego.
Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m.
Tickets ($32-$40) are available at backyardrenaissance.com
Running time: 90 minutes
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