You don’t have to believe in psychic phenomena to find yourself spellbound by Lucas Hnath’s mysterious and spooky The Thin Place, the latest Echo Theater Company winner at the Atwater Village Theatre.

Guiding the audience on a trip down her personal memory lane is 20something Hilda (Caitlin Zambito), whose recollections of her beloved grandmother (or could they be her actual presence in the room?) have Hilda seeing the deceased woman wherever she looks.

Hilda’s granny had, after all, developed in her granddaughter the ability to know precisely which word the older woman was attempting to communicate to her by telepathic means.

“Did I just get good at guessing?” wonders Hilda, or was it that her grandmother was preparing her for a time after her death? If they became truly adept at hearing each other’s thoughts, would Granny still be able to send Hilda words from beyond the grave?

It’s perhaps no wonder then that when Caitlin attends one of professional psychic Linda’s (Janet Greaves) sittings, she finds herself enthralled, particularly when her grandmother’s spirit seems to be speaking to her directly through the Englishwoman, who manages somehow to know names and places shared only by Caitlin and her grandmother.

What Caitlin’s grandmother can’t tell her granddaughter is whether or not Caitlin’s mother, who vanished sometime after Grandma’s death, is with her now in the afterlife.

Whatever the case, Linda and Caitlin begin spending time together, the younger woman not only enthralled by the tales Linda has to tell but wishing that she too could develop the psychic powers that seem to come so easily to her friend and mentor.

Playwright Hnath divides The Thin Place into three parts, the second of which has Hilda and Linda joined for cocktails by Linda’s American cousin Jerry (Justin Huen), who has helped his aunt obtain a work visa, and Sylvia (Corbett Tuck), the woman who pays Linda’s rent (for reasons Hilda can only guess at).

As to where the play’s final scene takes us, or the reason for Hilda and Linda’s being there together, I’ll leave that for you to discover.

Suffice it to say that it’s at this point that Hnath, director Abigail Deser, and a crackerjack design team up the dramatic tension and otherworldly atmosphere to gripping effect, The Thin Place’s three distinct parts adding up to a fascinating, thought-provoking whole, albeit one that leaves certain questions deliberately, tantalizingly unanswered.

It’s no mean feat to write a supernatural-themed play that will please both believers and skeptics alike, but it’s something that Hnath achieves in his 2019 four-hander, not the least because the medium of live theater leaves far more to the imagination than would film or TV.

By seating the audience on opposite sides of the stage, director Deser and co-scenic designer Amanda Knehans, have us sharing Hilda’s experiences in a way a more traditional proscenium design would not allow, and by keeping furniture sparse, the designers let to fill in the blanks, most particularly in the play’s final enigmatic third.

Though the role of Hilda has been written for a woman in her late-thirties, casting the waiflike, far younger Zambito in the role seems a particularly savvy choice, the gifted actress drawing us in to Hilda’s world from the start and never letting go.

Greaves makes for a gritty, witty, thoroughly riveting Linda, her Northern English vowels an added plus; the always excellent Huen is never less than authentic as Jerry; and an equally fine Tuck gives Sylvia a sardonic edge that is just right for the role.

Matt Richter and Hayden Kirschbaum’s evocative lighting and Alysha Bermudez’s striking sound design add to the eerie atmosphere throughout, and Dianne K. Graebner’s costumes tell us almost as much about the characters wearing them as Hnath’s script does.

The Thin Place is produced by Chris Fields and Chelsea Spirito. Irene DH Lee is production stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

I’m never quite sure what to expect from Lucas Hnath, whose plays run the gamut of styles and genres. Two of them I loved, one I appreciated, and one I absolutely couldn’t stand.

Fortunately, this time round Hnath doesn’t disappoint, nor does Echo Theater Company. From its engaging start to its appropriately cryptic finish, The Thin Place held me in its supernatural spell.

The Echo Theater Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com

–Steven Stanley
March 19, 2023
Photos: OddDog Pictures

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Echo Theater Company, Los Angeles Theater Review, Lucas Hnath