Bravo to Ben Gougeon, Alexander Richardson and Dominic Ramirez and their team for introducing the Quad Cities to a unique theatre experience. They have written and produced The Stacks which is categorized as “immersive theatre” where actors and audience commingle. In this instance The Stacks takes place in a college library where a present day investigator tries to solve a 67 year old murder. Making this even more intriguing is that the performance is being staged in the old and long empty Carnegie Library, now recently revitalized into The Sound Conservatory, in downtown Moline lending an eerie authenticity to the execution of the script.
I was anxious to attend this show and embrace the concept and I would like to see more of this genre in the future. Alas, I found that I was not simply smart enough to figure out how to best approach the performance to get anywhere near a conclusion of the “who-dun-it.”
Playwright Gougeon introduced the audience to the show and encouraged us to seek our own “adventure” by either following one character throughout the show or to wander from scene to scene.
Make no mistake, this show is a challenge and not for the faint of heart and definitely not for the physically impaired. The action takes place throughout the three floors of the library including a very narrow staircase to the basement. In addition, the lighting is very low which sets a spooky mood but really hampered being able to follow written clues without the aid of the flashlight on my cell phone. Last, the audience is admonished at the beginning that they are in a library and should refrain from loud conversations. The flip side of that admonishment – and my common complaint – is that the actors also spoke in such hushed tones that even standing a couple of feet from them I couldn’t fully hear their dialogue. As a result, I (and Mr. Hicks) had to reluctantly give up trying to make heads or tails of the action…and we did not appear to be alone.
It should also be pointed out that because multiple “scenes” take place simultaneously on different levels it is impossible to take in everything thereby suggesting that attendance at more than one show is necessary. But at $25 per ticket ($10 for students and seniors) that’s a bit pricey.
I want to make very clear that I loved the concept, the venue, and the staging, which were all spot on and the performance by this ensemble cast of what appeared to be local college students from Augustana College and St. Ambrose University together with seasoned Quad Cities’ actors which included Bradley Robert Jensen, Eric Teeter and Jeremy Mahr, was fascinating and I would love, love, love to see more of this innovative approach to theatre. But I think it could have been better to give the audience more direction by perhaps staggered starts sending them to different areas in a specified order to observe the scenes and find the clues.
Sadly for me, this is the classic, “it’s not you, it’s me” scenario.
The Stacks continues at the Sound Conservatory, 504 – 17 th Street in downtown Moline Thursday through Friday, February 29 and March 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. AND they have added a bonus performance at 10:00 p.m. on Friday March 1.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg
