We Have No Need Of Other Worlds (We Need Mirrors) ★★★★

We Have No Need of Other Worlds (We Need Mirrors) is a cumbersome title for a clean, cool show.

It’s not hard to see why creator Graham Sack chose it. The title is quoted from Stanisław Lem’s science fiction novel Solaris, a seminal and thrice-filmed work that explores how humans seek understanding of themselves by projecting their psyches onto the universe only to eventually learn that what they find are only reflections of their own unresolved issues. That profound notion certainly applies here, but what Sack has created with technical collaborator LedPulse is a truly innovative theatrical experience that deserves its own original name.

The show uses LedPulse’s DragonO Volumetric LED Display, a thinking structure that responds to its environment and arranges thousands of LED lights in a three-dimensional matrix. For children of the ‘70s and ‘80s, DragonO feels like being inside a life-sized Lite-Brite, and it’s dazzling. As Sack combs through memories of his father’s last night — internally through his own recollections, and externally through a box of his father’s journals from 1967 — the lights conjure literal images — a hospital bed, ocean waves — or visual interpretations — of emotions, the passing of time, even the final trip to the great beyond.

The result is a transfixing and gorgeously meditative experience that would be stronger if the script were as impressive as the design elements. (Special shout-out to Matt McCorkle for his sound work, which elevates the power of the show’s sensational visuals.) The stories Sack shares about his father are consistently interesting and moving, but missing is the why, the what, and the how. Why is Sack going through his father’s journals now? What does he get from reading and pondering them that applies to his life today? And ultimately, how does this experience change him?

Make no mistake: this production at Onassis ONX is already powerful and exciting. Once those essential dramatic questions are addressed, We Have No Need of Other Worlds (We Need Mirrors) will leap to a whole new dimension. And possibly — hopefully — acquire a new title.