Melodrama is a world of its own.  Movement is subtle, the spoken word is meaningfully mundane and even the setting has a less-than-subtle stability within which less than subtle things occur. David V. Groupe's set for this play, encompassing two rooms in the mansion, works very well and has just the right touch of the period of the piece, although its furniture may be a bit too playful, too fresh and new. Lighting Designer Goupe and the director have worked together to create excellent mood pictures while giving us the characters expertly. In addition. to the seven-member cast of players a backstage crew of five people manipulate the set to create the perfectly eerie special effects, bringing Hill House vibrantly and scarily alive. Doors close by themselves, strange lights appear and disappear, sounds, created by Corey Wheat and Drew Davidson,  blast and chill the spines of the unsuspecting audience., This is all well played and frankly make the play go by as quickly as possible. 

        Mike Cutler does well as Arthur. He is good at playing cynicism which helps a lot. The Montagues are a combination of under-playing (Pringle) and overplaying  (King) and neither one catches the necessary style of the play. As the one character who has a chance at emotional growth in the script, Brian Birney keeps his performance stalled in its first impression. He's good but not very interesting. Jansch's Theo is hard to believe ranging from too cynical to mostly annoying when she rejects the reaction to her intense flirting. Thank goodness for the well-played characters in this production; they keep the show as alive as Hill House itself.