Susie Sokol. Photo by Dona Ann McAdams

Maggie McBrien, Katherine Profeta.Photo by Ariana Smart Truman

Susie Sokol, Katherine Profeta. Photo by Ariana Smart Truman

Room Tone

A haunting, humorous, yet sincere meditation on spiritual belief, Room Tone draws on touchstone texts by the eminent turn-of-the-century Harvard psychologist William James, and his brother, the novelist Henry James.

While William’s approach to the ineffable was scientific, Henry explored the same topic through fiction. Each in his own way, these fathers of modern American philosophy and literature, grappled with how and why religious and spiritual beliefs form—a question that still very much haunts the world today.

With Room Tone, ERS reconceives William’s landmark Varieties of Religious Experience as theatrical monologues and Henry’s great novella The Turn of the Screw as a disorienting vision. With strangely intimate performances, intricate choreography set to powerfully resonant Balinese gamelan music, sound and lighting design that are both simple and sophisticated, a penchant for slapstick, and innovative staging that takes nothing for granted, we’ve created a piece that hovers between hallucination and sight, public performance and private reverie.

The result is a tragicomic ghost story—our darkest work yet, literally and otherwise.

 

Press

The Washington Post April 12, 2004

A Novel Twist On 'The Turn Of The Screw'


Time Out New York November 7, 2002

Room Tone


The Village Voice November 6, 2002

The James Gang vs. Sophocles


Ensemble

  • Robert Cucuzza
  • Rinne Groff
  • Maggie McBrien
  • Katherine Profeta
  • Susie Sokol
Charlie Schroeder originated the role played by Robert Cucuzza.
 
  • Director John Collins, Steve Bodow
  • Lighting Designer John Collins
  • Sound Designer Michael Kraskin
  • Set Designer Heike Schuppelius
  • Choreographer Katherine Profeta and ERS
  • Costumer Colleen Werthmann
  • Stage Manager JoAnna McFadden
  • Technical Director John Peruzzi
  • Tour Manager Kate Scelsa