Riveting ‘Sound Inside’ brings a novel style to 10th season of Urbanite Theatre

In “The Sound Inside,” playwright Adam Rapp deploys the tools of a great novelist and puts them to impressive use in stage form. His two-character play, which opens the 10th season of downtown Sarasota’s Urbanite Theatre, plays like a page-turning novel, leaving you eager to read about each new twist and character trait and the surprises to come. And there are plenty of them.

The storytellers at Urbanite are Vickie Daignault, who plays Yale University creative writing professor Bella Baird, and Evan Stevens as Christopher, one of her best students, and they express themselves like writers, though somehow adapted for speaking their words aloud.

From the moment Bella appears out of the darkness on Tom Hansen’s spare and variable set, Daignault draws us into the story the professor is spinning. Bella offers some facts about her life – she’s 53, never married, the author of acclaimed short stories and a novel that should have done better, and is now dealing with some serious health issues.

Christopher is a youthful-looking freshman, quixotic, resistant to computer technology and uninterested in following established rules. He shows up unannounced to talk with Bella, and over the course of a semester, they develop a friendship. There’s an attraction there, but the connection is more about great books, writers and how to tell stories.

During conversations, one will claim that the other’s comment “sounds like it was written” rather than just spoken.

Daignault has extensive monologues that never sound like she’s just droning on. Each word and phrase is beautifully written and spoken and becomes key to better understanding Bella’s character and situation. Even her voice is interesting – rough and polished, smooth and slightly smoky at the same time – adding subtle nuances to what she says.

She plays Bella as a confident woman with a hint of sadness and lacking true connections to family and friends. She also hasn’t published any of her own work in years, and you wonder why.

In contrast, Christopher is brimming with enthusiasm and life, eager to put pen to paper. It’s not clear how much of the story he shares about himself is true or wishful thinking. He’s also something of a loner, preferring books to socializing. He does talk about his interest in a female economics student, but you’re never sure if it’s real.

Stevens, a recent graduate of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, gives Christopher an inner life expressed in his eyes and the silences. When he’s listening or thinking about a response, he gives the audience a lot to ponder. There’s something also dangerous or worrisome about him, but in an oddly non-threatening way.

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Rapp rarely takes the audience or his characters down the path you might expect or assume. Mention a play about the relationship between a college professor and a student, and you know where your mind goes. Defying those expectations keeps the story riveting. Hearing parts of a story that Christopher creates leads you to wonder if the whole play is actually a novel that one of them wrote.

It is all beautifully and naturalistically staged by Kristin Clippard in a way that never feels forced. The stories unfold as if they’re happening now. The connection between the two actors is remarkable, and the costumes by Kristy Iris are simple and on point.

That is typical of the kinds of productions Urbanite Theatre stages. “The Sound Inside” ranks among the company’s best, keeping you focused on the story and characters and leaving plenty to discuss on the way home.

‘The Sound Inside’

By Adam Rapp. Directed by Kristin Clippard. Reviewed Oct. 20. Runs through Dec. 3 at Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St., Sarasota. $42, $28 for those under 40 and $5 for students. 941-321-1397; urbanitetheatre.com

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota’s Urbanite Theatre opens 10th season with ‘The Sound Inside’