When Moses stood on Mount Sinai and was laser-beamed the basic tenets of God's will, I think there was an omission: Thou shalt not fuck with time travel. It never works out. How many naive protagonists must become their own grandfathers to hammer that lesson home?

A young publisher, John (Shawn Law, playing a kind of everyman), stands in a New York skyscraper in 1919. The end of World War I has electrified the nation with promise and hope. His budding publishing company has funds to publish only one book: a lengthy but innovative tome by his Ivy League schoolmate (the lanky and animated Eric Riedmann) or a rags-to-riches autobiography by his black soul-singer girlfriend (a mellow Amber Wolfe Wollam). Appease the unhinged buddy or please the seductive siren?

Before he reaches his decision, a mysterious machine activates, printing sheets of paper in cyclonic bursts. The mechanical deus ex machina is never seen by the audience; it is represented only by flurries of paper in the background. The pages turn out to be books from the future, giving the exact time lines of the characters' lives. John and his manic assistant Gidger (Evan Whitfield) pore over the sheets and prove that Doc Brown was right: Foresight erodes stability. John learns how his decisions assist and sabotage his friends, casting him into paralysis.

The Violet Hour plays emotional ping-pong. It feels like it should be heavy and full of itself, but comedic breaks come often. Gidger has a tendency to burst in during the dramatic moments with no purpose other than to bemoan the future. ("Oh my God! We are never again eating red meat!") Whitfield's performance is The Violet Hour's strongest—manic and shrill, his voice brimming with sarcasm, his Gidger best captures the absurd spirit of Richard Greenberg's script.

The entire play takes place in John's office, but you can feel the promise of 1919 New York in general: the optimism and sense of wonder. The play is entertaining but slight, and it doesn't have all that much to say. Except don't fuck with time travel. Seriously.