A magician’s dark cave in the south of France is the setting of Waterworks June production of The Illusion. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner for drama Tony Kushner, this work is adapted from Pierre Corneille’s seventeenth-century comedy, L’Illusion Comique, which follows a contrite father seeking news of his prodigal son from a sorcerer.

Clint Wright will direct The Illusion, a play that has been described as weaving “obsession and caprice, romance and murder, fact and fiction, into an exploration of the greatest illusion of all—love.”

Pridamont of Avignon (Erik Valera), a lawyer who is facing his own mortality, is desperate to find his son (Randall Linkins) he drove away years before, travels in the dead of night to a mysterious cave. There he engages the services of the sorcerer Alcandre (Leigh Lunsford), who conjures up visions of the romantic, adventurous, and perilous life of his son ever since he was expelled from his home.

The magician conjures three episodes from the young man’s life. Inexplicably, each scene finds the boy in a slightly different world: names change, allegiances shift and fairy-tale simplicity evolves into elegant tragedy. We learn of the great loves (Kalimah Patricia Carter) (Charlotte Trant) and his rival (James Early).

The cast also includes The Amanuensis (Kris Preston), a servant to the sorcerer who is forced to enter the illusions for his master’s benefit, and the boisterous, crude, egotistical Matamore (Jordan Whiley).

The Illusion, according to Sylvie Drake of the Los Angeles Times, “Takes us into territory on which theater thrives: fantasy, witchcraft, transcended place and time.”

The show runs June 15, 16, 22, 23.

For more information or to volunteer, contact the Waterworks Players at 434-392-3452 or info@waterworksplayers.org.

Reserved Tickets are $12. Opening night of June 15 is wine night, $16 for a ticket and first glass of wine. Tickets can be purchased online at https://waterworksplayers.org/buytickets  or call 434-392-3452.