Ride the Cyclone, which ran this weekend at Whitneyville Cultural Commons in a production mounted by Magnolia Theatre Company, tells the story of six teenagers — Ocean O’Connor Rosenberg (Chloe Zito), Noel Gruber (Joshua Cruz), Mischa Bachinski (Jaison Haynes), Ricky Potts (Jacob Gannon), Constance Blackwood (July Roche), and a Jane Doe (Gwen Kirkland) — who die in a roller coaster accident in the fictional town of Uranium City, Saskatchewan and regain sentience in a limbo overseen by fortune teller Karnak (Vinnie Santiago and Maya Johnson).
Karnak informs them that one of them can be brought back to life. The question is, which one? Each of them must state their case for why they should be chosen. Karnak ends the explanation of the situation with a cryptic message:“The one who wants to win it the most shall redeem the loser in order to complete the whole.”
