Review: Theatre of Note’s ‘Tune In’ Is a Deep-Thinking, Psychological Stunner

Carlos Lacámara’s world premiere play, Tune In, takes its characters and premise beyond the facade of mere entertainment and into a realm where its audience members can join in on important ruminations and realizations about why and how our motivations come to be, the “demons,” or mental challenges, that may weigh us down from fulfilling our potential, and who we are juxtaposed against the notion of who we can ultimately become. Sometimes all it takes is an epiphany, which is certainly easier said than done in a day-to-day milieu with incessant noise and crisscrossing aspirations.

What sets Lacámara’s script apart from contemporary offerings is that its moral is universal, told seamlessly within its chosen narrative medium while being relatable beyond the parameters of its 1963 setting at Hobbes University. It is here where Professor Samantha Albert, the lone female academic in her Psychology department, is excitedly confident in the possibly paradigm-shifting healing applications of Lysergic acid diethylamide, otherwise popularly known as LSD.

“Sam,” assisted by her graduate student Philip Hoff, is on the verge of an NIH grant and clinical trials to eradicate depression, OCD, and dissociative disorders forever, even if this finding would threaten the livelihoods of behaviorists, Freudians, and Jungians. Sam’s momentum comes crashing to a halt, however, when her department chair Stanley inexplicably leaps to his death, leaving questions about the LSD endowment, the budget (revealed to be grossly mismanaged), and, worst of all, Sam’s job given that she has no seniority, let alone tenure.

As Sam’s idiosyncratic department colleagues, Professors Bob Newell and Henry Willmore, opposingly make their cases to be the new chairman, with a promise to keep her employed, Sam enlists the support of fellow female in arms, Cora Shepherd, the department secretary who has eyes and ears everywhere and swears her support on a political battleground where men must be strategically appeased — nobody more so than department founder Professor Karl Melnitz, a heavy-accented German who is ornery, obstinate, withdrawn, and would likely prioritize watching teledramas in his office than heeding appeals.

Of course, this is only the tip of the drama enfolding a play augmented by an affair between Sam and Cora’s husband, Professor Dan Shepherd, who just so happens to work in the same department, to go along with rampant rumors, and an embodied voice from Sam’s past who persists in the present.

Julianna Robinson skillfully portrays Sam, who is perhaps not quite what she seems to be, an observation that equally applies to the other characters. Sam is strong-willed but beset by a long-standing obstacle that exists more so within her than externally by the jockeying males in her department. As the fulcrum of the production, Robinson compellingly negotiates her persona’s desires and emotions, the depth of which unveils a vulnerability sought to be unilaterally cured through LSD research.

The bulk of the play’s substance is conveyed via the spoken exchanges and evolving relationship between Sam and Prof. Melnitz, inhabited by dedicated actor Carl J. Johnson who brilliantly taps into a wizened genius and sincerity one might associate with an Albert Einstein or, more appropriately, a Sigmund Freud whose wisdom, even in the face of new pharmacological revelations, is timeless. The show’s best moments are shared in such scenes when the audience is taken by not only Melnitz’s fatherly charm but the extra layers of Sam which are interestingly peeled back.

Evan Marshall adeptly depicts the genuinely resolved Philip who offers to not only oversee the experiments, but record his own experiences with LSD, the cost being that he illuminates his own reckoning with himself. Additionally, Ron Morehouse gives Dan, who is not afraid to tell Sam he loves her, a sense of added intrigue about the thoughts that percolate inside his own scope of reality when he curiously asks if Stanley smiled before dying.

Alina Phelan makes for an engaging secretary who is seemingly a people pleaser, albeit one who wields more power than a subordinate of this stature, running the department behind the scenes, being privy to information, and doling out guidance to a grateful Sam (e.g., “A woman must manipulate to survive in a man’s world”) that has foreshadowing implications.

Brendan Broms and Anthony DeCarlo bring heaps of levity, if not some strangeness, as the paradoxically timid but pushy Bob and keyed-up Henry, respectively. These two characters particularly conflict in their pursuit of the chairmanship, levying ill feelings and, in one instance (or two), deviantly marking their territory.

Without spoiling the satisfying upshot of her enigmatic but no less consequential character, the trajectory brought about by Scout Gutzmerson’s arc colors in the reasons for Sam’s passion for LSD as a recuperative tool, culminating in a profoundly moving resolution that communicates the freedom afforded by a psyche that forgives and peacefully surrenders.

Over the span of a crisp 90 minutes, director Dana Schwartz maximizes the impact of each scene, building on top of one another, as the stakes intensify, en route to a satisfying final message that captures Lacámara’s intent. Schwartz’s scenic design, too, deserves praise for, in parallel to the story, being more than meets the eye — the set’s central feature, a two-dimensional bookcase, surprises by occasionally producing three-dimensional books.

Lighting and sound designer Matt Richter frames the suspenseful comic and psychedelic drama with a lushness that accentuates the visual and aural presence of characters dressed in Shaunte Williams’s period-era costumes. A slice of a bygone era is presented in combination with goals and reflections that resonate more than ever today.

In 2025, politics are as pervasive as ever, dividing demographics and genders over topics. Despite the stigma of therapy and psych medication declining, as more people become attuned to the idea that the mind and body are inextricably linked, the overwhelming stimuli and mixed messaging of social media has made it increasingly difficult to look introspectively and take proper inventory of dysfunctional thoughts and their causes.

Ironically, mental illness has become more preponderant considering decades of double-blind studies which have produced novel and effective medications. This is not to say that medication is overrated; on the contrary, biochemical imbalances require them, but at other times the answer may very well lie within us, as uncomfortable as that foray might be — a truth dexterously told by Carlos Lacámara in Theatre of Note’s production of Tune In.

Cover image caption: (L-R) Julianna Robinson and Evan Marshall in Theatre of Note’s production of Tune In in Los Angeles, CA. Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Theatre of Note’s production of Tune In runs through Sunday, September 7th. For more information on the play and to purchase tickets, visit theatreofnote.com.