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On Friday night I finally had a chance to catch Walking Shadow's closing production of the season, The Transdimensional Couriers Union. An original script by company member John Heimbuch, Couriers is an ambitious go at a rarity in theater: science-fiction. I'm not sure why sci-fi is so rare in the theater (perhaps as the gentleman seated next to me pointed out, it so easily becomes camp), but as something of a time travel aficionado I was instantly intrigued. In Couriers time travel takes place with the Impulse Device which, like cell phones, needs to find a receiver at the destination point to function, limiting its use from the years 2012 (when the system goes online) to 2589 when an unknown event causes the network to go down. (Here Heimbuch keeps one foot firmly grounded in actual physics, as current theoretical methods of time travel do in fact limit travel to the period of time the proposed device is running.)

The story begins with Sophie (Melissa Anne Murphy) and Peter (Sid Solomon), a couple just starting their day when the Impulse Device is released and the sudden ability of anyone to return to the past and rewrite history wreaks havoc upon the world's original timeline (referred to as Iteration 1). Enter the Couriers Union: using the Impulse technology they rebuild and maintain causality allowing the rest of the world to go about their normal lives and still enjoy the benefits the Impulse Device provides. The plot follows Sophie and Peter as they are pulled apart by future versions of themselves as pawns in their own schemes. Peter helps Renee (part of the original research team that developed the Device, played by Anna Sundberg) found the Couriers Union, while Sophie ends up with Quentin and his Enforcers, who work for Duinn Tech, the company who developed the Device and wants to take back control of the network from the Couriers Union.

Despite the frequent time travel Heimbuch keeps the non-linear storyline remarkably coherent. A projection onstage tells us the date and location for each scene (a definite necessity), and with that as an aid I was rarely lost as to where (and when) characters were coming from or going to when they popped in or out of a scene, courtesy of their Impulse Device. What starts as a scattering of myriad dots does grow into a definite picture by the end as all of the pieces of each character's timeline become clear. This is a story where the pieces need to ultimately come together and Heimbuch does so deftly.

I felt however that in taking such care with the structure and making it comprehensible, the characters and story themselves were lost in the shuffle. For me all of the characters came across as flat, and I never quite understood what was driving them. The performances too felt wooden (and having seen several of the actors in other productions I know they are capable of better). Sophie and Peter were supposedly driven to repair time to restore their relationship, but I never felt that either really cared that deeply about the other. There were some nice, sweet moments with Eleanor Morgan (Jean Wolff) and Dr. Savien Mercure (Alan Sorenson) as we learn how their relationship began, beginning the sequence of events that lead to the Impulse Device, but this subplot was sadly underdeveloped. Sorenson's Dr. Mercure, the scientist behind the Device, was the best performance of the night, which made me wish we could have seen more of him.

On the technical side Andrea Heilman's scenic design was perfect, supplemented by E. Amy Hill's costumes, Paul Epton's lighting, and Michael Croswell's wonderful sound design. The set was kept simple, mostly two rolling (and internally-lit) tables (nice touch to the futuristic atmosphere) that could be rearranged to represent different locations in space. "Time travel" was accomplished with a few simple touches of lights and sound: when a character is jumping in or out the lights dim and the rest of the actors freeze, giving the time-traveling actor a moment to enter or exit. Strategically placed lights with specific colors (yes, I did notice the subtle difference in the two networks) and sound effects finished the effect. Once complete, the lights return to normal and the action resumed. The simplicity of the effect was perfect, although I did wish it could have been accomplished more quickly. Because of the non-linear nature of the show scenes were often short, which meant that scene changes were frequent. Even keeping things simple, changing the set pieces often required a lengthy pause. I'm not sure how that particular problem could be solved, but it significantly slowed down the pacing and contributed quite a bit to the 2 1/2 hour or so run time (with intermission).

All in all I did enjoy the show, as I always love to see a well-crafted time travel story come together, but the show doesn't rise to the level of last year's brilliant sci-fi production, Robots vs. Fake Robots (still one of my favorite Walking Shadow offerings). The Transdimensional Couriers Union runs through May 29th at the People's Center Theatre in Minneapolis. 3 out of 5 stars.