Are those claiming to be spirit channelers real or fake? The new off-Broadway play “Simon Says” may not convince you one way or the other, but it does generate some suspense.
The action takes place in the book-strewn living room of Professor Williston (Brian Murray), an elderly academic who lost his position for unexplained reasons. Some years earlier, he had taken in a boy named James (Anthony J. Goes) who had the gift of channeling, that is, conveying to our world the thoughts and/or energy of entities or spirits from another.
Williston, who is supposedly working on a book on reincarnation, is desperate for cash and charges for séances. At the beginning of the play, James had already decided to give up what he views as show business to try to lead a normal life.
James is furious when he learns that Williston canceled the tuition check that was supposed to pay for the young man’s first year in college. As James is about to leave, an attractive young widow named Annie (Vanessa Britting ) arrives. Her aunt had arranged for a session with Williston, but when the older woman became ill, she prevailed on Annie to substitute.
Annie decides to go through with the séance despite the fact that she is a high school science teacher and skeptical about reincarnation. In any event, she wants to establish contact with her husband, who died in a car accident.
James changes his mind and goes through with the channeling, and it’s something to behold.The young man goes into a trance, during which he becomes various characters of both genders over thousands of years and from different countries.
There is a 2,000-year-old mystery as well as some other loose ends that are all neatly resolved within the 90-minute play. One incongruity in the text is that all of the reincarnations, whether from ancient China or Judea, speak modern English.
