Carpet. Envelope. Wallpaper. Cigarette. Jelly.
Does that make any sense? Am I the crazy one, or are you?
Friday at 8 p.m. the pieces will fall into place at the Hippodrome during Anthony Horowitz's play, "Mindgame."
"Mindgame" is a psychodrama filled to the brim with serial killers, intrigue, sex, bondage and violence.
The cast of characters includes a true crime journalist named Mark Styler, played by Tod Zimmerman; Easterman, the serial killer whose tale holds the key to Styler's next big story; Dr. Farquhar, an eccentric and contradictory psychiatrist, played by David Sitler; and Nurse Plimpton, played by Sara Morsey.
"It is all about the nature of perception. What we see is not always what we get," director Lauren Caldwell said.
The play is set in an office at the Fairfields Institute for the Criminally Insane. As the story progresses, Styler realizes that no one can be trusted, no one knows who they are, and nothing is as it seems, not even things he witnesses with his own eyes.
"Once you see the twists and the turns and everything else, it's a real roller coaster ride. It's a lot of fun," said Sitler, who also performed as Neil in "The Pursuit of Happiness" on the Hippodrome stage and traveled with Broadway's "Frost/Nixon." "I was sold on my first line."
The script is Quentin Tarantino-inspired. There are songs from "Pulp Fiction," moments that remind you of "Reservoir Dogs" and "Kill Bill"-esque abuse that doesn't cease throughout the play.
Bottles are broken on the backs of heads, scalpels come dangerously close to faces and the heat from lit cigarettes threatens the flesh.
"The script is just a framework. This is our show; we don't know how it's done in New York or anywhere else." Caldwell said. "The music choices, the staging, the actor's intentions, the characters and all that, that comes from our own show."
"I'm in rehearsal making choices and seeing what works and what doesn't - it's the process of coming up with who I am," Zimmerman said.
In true mind game spirit, the story ends, but somehow it doesn't feel like it's finished. The cat is still chasing the mouse once the curtains are closed.
Caldwell's goal is not to tell us what to think, only to get our synapses working.
"If four people walk out and they have four different opinions, they'd have something to talk about over a glass of wine," she said. "If that's what you think, then that's what happened. The conclusions are your decisions."
Tickets are $30 on opening night, and reduced pricing for each night after. There is an advance screening tonight that costs $12 for students and $15 for adults.
"The play's not finished until the audience is here," Sitler said.
