Review: PROFESSOR HOUSE is Gripping Psychological Drama

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Survivor’s Guilt can cause immense feelings of remorse that are attributed to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.) The grief-stricken mourner blames themself for another’s death causing them to spiral into a dark mental state that can manifest in grave depression and suicidal ideation or tendencies.

In Jacob Juntunen’s gripping and haunting new play, Professor House, college professor Godfrey St. Peter has withdrawn from his family. He has isolated himself into their home’s attic. Much like the professor’s mind, the attic is dark, dank, and strewn with unfinished work and painful funereal memories.

The isolate recluse is battling depression and survivor’s guilt brought on by the memories of a deceased student, Tommi, who had become an integral part of his, his wife’s, and his daughter’s life. Tommi is present in the attic, but are they a supernatural apparition or a taunting memory that doesn’t allow the professor to escape his psychological trauma?

Directed by Sam Hayes, Professor House is both a riveting and disturbing look at all-consuming, inescapable grief. Hayes’ cerebral, affective, and transportive storytelling takes us inside the mind of the distraught educator. Their haunting staging overwhelms the audience with shadows, sounds, and imagery that sticks with you long after the play has ended.

Professor House (Ben Ritchie) battles his mental demons, personified as the deceased Tommi (Maida Dippel). Ritchie and Dippel’s psychological sparring and mind play transport the audience deep inside the mournful professor’s mental abyss with intense portrayals dripping with expressive angst. The professor’s torment is visible in Ritchie’s purposeful twitches, horrified stares, wide eyes, and trembling extremities.

Dippel’s looming and menacing presence creates an ominous and foreboding feeling. Her verbal and physical embodiment of the spectral Tommi leaves no doubt that her memory controls the professor’s despair and desolation. Dippel mesmerizes in their metamorphoses from demonic to earthly, and back again. Their Tommi controls space and time as they manipulate the professor’s mind. Dippel’s unhinged portrayal is both phantasmal and hypnotic.

Struggling with the professor’s despondency is his wife Lillian (Claire Coffey) and daughter Rosamond (Sadie Harvey.) Coffey and Harvey portray the concerned family members who are determined to help. Their visceral portrayals express urgency with the emotional awareness that their efforts are futile. Supporting actors Ron Baker and Taijha Silas are memorable in roles that are critical to Juntunen’s narrative.

Hayes, sound designer Ellie Schwetye, and lighting designer Theresa Comstock have created a preternatural world with time shifts to enhance Juntunen’s non-linear narrative. The sound and lighting effects create a chilling multi-sensory experience. Schwetye’s always present soundscape intensifies the professor’s torment and Tommi’s intimidating and sinister presence. Erik Kuhn’s cluttered and jumbled set design mirrors the professor’s turbulent and overwhelmed psyche. The design team’s imagination, creativity, and execution deepens the professor’s dark cerebral conflict.

Professor House blends Juntunen’s psychologically charged script with visionary direction, spellbinding performances, and evocative lighting and sound design. Hayes, the cast, and technical team create an otherworldly experience that is riveting, thrilling, and absorbing. The macabre subject matter is deeply unsettling, but Hayes’ immersive storytelling is impressively unforgettable. It is a directorial masterwork from an emerging theater artist with an immense amount of vision and talent.

Contraband Theatre’s production of Professor House continues at The Chapel through October 25, 2025. Tickets are offered on a pay what you wish tiered pricing structure.