The Sound Inside Echoes Long After Curtain Call
There’s a reason people still get dressed up, park downtown, and sit in the dark for ninety minutes to watch two people talk on a stage. That reason? Productions like The Sound Inside.
This April, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati continues its tradition of bold, intimate, and fiercely intelligent theatre with the regional premiere of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside. It’s not just a show—it’s an experience. The kind that leaves you blinking when the lights come up, wondering what exactly you just saw and why your heart is still pounding.
Let me set the scene: a crisp, intellectual campus in New England. Yale, to be specific. The kind of place where secrets wear elbow patches and smoke clove cigarettes. Enter Bella Baird, a literature professor whose personal life is as meticulously guarded as her prose. She's sharp, self-contained, and used to solitude. Then walks in Christopher, her student—brilliant, intense, and unpredictable in the way that makes you both lean in and brace yourself.
What unfolds between them is less of a plot and more of a psychological dance, one that pulls you in with poetic language, cloaked intentions, and a growing sense of dread. It's not horror, but it's haunting. It’s not romantic, but it's intimate. And by the end, you’re not entirely sure who to believe—or what to feel.
The script by Adam Rapp (a Pulitzer finalist for Red Light Winter) is so finely tuned it hums. It’s the kind of writing that could buckle under its own intellectual weight if not for the emotional anchor at its core. Lucky for us, Ensemble Theatre has cast two of the best anchors around: Annie Fitzpatrick and Rupert Spraul.
Fitzpatrick, a Cincinnati theatre staple, delivers Bella with exquisite restraint. She doesn’t just act—she pulses. Every line she delivers feels like it’s been simmering in the back of her throat for years. You might recognize her from Chicago P.D. or Dark Waters, but on ETC’s stage, she’s mesmerizing.
And then there’s Rupert Spraul. Making his ETC debut, Spraul plays Christopher with the kind of mercurial energy that’s impossible to fake. One minute he’s endearing, the next he’s dangerous—and in between, he’s deeply human. This is not a flashy role; it’s a slow burn. But Spraul lights it up with masterful control.
Under the direction of Brian Isaac Phillips, the play moves like a memory—fluid, non-linear, and tinged with shadow. The staging is spare but deliberate, with Brian c. Mehring’s set and lighting design doing double duty as both setting and mood. Maria Fernanda Ortiz Lopez’s costumes speak volumes in subtle ways. Trey Tatum’s sound design creeps in just enough to unsettle.
What’s remarkable is that this is a two-person play. No ensemble. No chorus. Just two people and the razor-thin space between them. And yet, The Sound Inside fills the theatre with tension, ambiguity, and startling emotional heft. It’s a masterclass in less-is-more storytelling.
But here’s where I step back from the review and get a little personal.
We live in a world where everything is fast, loud, and curated for click-throughs. Where stories are often simplified into tweet-length takes. And here comes a play that says: Sit down. Be quiet. Listen closely. Let ambiguity breathe. The Sound Inside isn’t content to entertain you—it wants to engage you. It wants to ask questions without promising answers.
And Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, now in its fourteenth season under Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers, continues to be the perfect incubator for such art. Nestled in the heart of Over-the-Rhine (but don’t let the charming façade fool you), ETC has a reputation for punching well above its weight—bringing cutting-edge work, nurturing local talent, and refusing to play it safe.
This production is sponsored by longtime supporters Shekhar & Anu Mitra and The Geiger Family—a nod to the kind of community that keeps live theatre alive. ETC is also buoyed by larger cultural partners like ArtsWave, the Ohio Arts Council, the Shubert Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. This is the kind of collaboration that allows a city like Cincinnati to shine on a national stage.
And really, that’s the heart of it. This isn’t just about a single play. It’s about what happens when you invest in local arts. You get theatre that doesn’t pander. You get stories that dare to be complex. You get nights that make you lean forward in your seat and forget to breathe.
So if you’ve never been to Ensemble Theatre, now is the time. If you think theatre is old-fashioned, let this show challenge that assumption. And if you’ve ever wondered whether art can change you, The Sound Inside has an answer. It whispers it to you in the dark.
Then it waits for you to lean in.
The Sound Inside runs April 5–27, 2025, at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. Evening performances Tuesday–Saturday at 7:30 PM; matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Tickets start at $30. For full performance details, visit ensemblecincinnati.org.