ZingSync

This time of year, we care about our scares. All the more welcome, then, is co-directors Hallie Gordon and Aria Velz’s staging of “The Brothers Paranormal” at Olney Theatre Center.

Sharp. Witty. Thoughtful. Sign up for the Style Memo newsletter.

A tale of loss, fresh starts and ghostly doings written by Prince Gomolvilas, the show is notable for its frightening sequences, ingeniously conjured by a creative team that includes illusions consultant Jim Steinmeyer, illusions instructor Robert Ramirez and the show’s shrewd designers.

The suspense ramps up when Thai American brothers Max (Tommy Bo) and Visarut (Eymard Cabling) secure the first customer for their paranormal investigation business: Delia (Lolita Marie), a former New Orleans resident who has experienced uncanny phenomena in the Midwestern home she shares with her husband, Felix (DeJeanette Horne), a vinyl-record enthusiast. While delving into Delia and Felix’s predicament, the brothers find themselves grappling with hard truths about their own family’s past.

Advertisement

They also have to cope with their incompatible views on phantoms: Thailand-born Visarut believes in them, while the younger Max, born in the United States, is a skeptic who doesn’t mind milking clients he thinks are gullible. The give-and-take between the brothers can be quite funny, especially when Cabling’s pitch-perfect Visarut is talking, looking endearingly disheveled and awkward, an undercurrent of wistfulness whetting his deadpan tone.

Complicating the brothers’ rapport is their irrepressible mother, Tasanee (a poised Cindy Chang). En route to the play’s not entirely convincing ending, the conversations between Tasanee and Max sometimes seem too thematically on-the-nose. But she can be funny, too, as when she’s in scolding mode.

It’s Marie and Horne who ground the story emotionally, deftly capturing Delia and Felix’s loving but anxious relationship. A sequence in which the spouses reminisce, then banter about Delia’s highfalutin tastes in coffee is very moving. In another key performance, Justine “Icy” Moral is faultless as an unsettling presence named Jai.

Advertisement

Misha Kachman’s set — the deliberately workaday homes of the two families — is a canvas for, and participant in, the chilling effects. Lighting designer Minjoo Kim and sound designer Sarah O’Halloran do a superb job raising the hairs on the backs of our necks and facilitating eerie surprises, and even costumer Jeannette Christensen contributes. The design is also pivotal to the show’s deeply affecting climax, a resonant moment of change and epiphany. (No spoilers here.)

Theater can’t control a viewer’s gaze as easily as screen entertainment can, and the live in-person quality allows theatergoers to retain some awareness of real-world time and place. So a play that’s shiver-inducing is a haunting achievement.

The Brothers Paranormal, by Prince Gomolvilas. Co-directed by Hallie Gordon and Aria Velz; director of production, Pope Jackson. About 2 hours and 15 minutes. $50-$85. Through Oct. 29 at Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. 301-924-3400. olneytheatre.org.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLKvwMSrq5qhnqKyr8COrZ%2BemaSav3B%2Bj2tqaGlgZH16e8Grpq2glafAbrzAq5inp6Kirq15zqWlnrFdqbWmrdOrnGaqlau2psOO