Candy Williams and Marcus Stimac star in Upstart Production’s ‘The Violet Hour’ onstage through April 23. (Photo courtesy ‘The Violet Hour’)

Exclusive offer: SMU students receive $10 tickets when they present their id at the box office.

Upstart Productions brought to life another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of design; a journey into a wondrous land with boundaries limited to the audience’s imagination – Next stop, “The Violet Hour.”

Even if the words are borrowed from Rod Serling, the description is accurate: Upstart has some good things going on with its current production of Richard Greenberg’s surrealist play.

Greenberg is a genius in his own right and this play is an especially brilliant work that pays a due homage to T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” (this critic’s favorite poem).

When you walk into the theater, you must walk through the door of Cindy Ernst’s stunning set, which is impeccably designed to look like a period office.

The year is 1919 and the play begins with John Pace Seavering (Marcus Stimac), a budding publisher, listening to his assistant Gidger (Linus Craig) expatitate about his life.

Seavering’s office is in disarray, covered in countless sheets of paper, as he is attempting to choose the first book he will publish.

He must decide between an extensive novel titled “The Violet Hour” written by his college buddy Denis McCleary (Austin Tindle) or the not-so-true memoirs of his black mistress Jessie Brewster (Candy Williams).

The approval of McCleary’s future father-in-law depends on the promise of a published novel, but Seavering’s love life hangs in balance with Brewster’s book.

A tornado of a plot twist surfaces when a mysterious, noisy machine is delivered, and it begins to print page-upon-page of unexplained manuscripts of books that have yet-to-be-written.

Only Gidger and Seavering are aware of these books, some of which contain details of the characters’ own future.

Stimac plays a steady Seavering, allowing himself to be a strong center for the play to spiral in and out of control.

Craig doles out the charm as the effeminate Gidger.

Tindle’s boyish charm is paramount in his romantic portrayal of McCleary.

There is a slight inconsistency in the pacing of the show, which makes the sexy moments between Williams and Stimac more awkward than sensual.

Williams, the least familiar face on stage, spoke with a jazzy cadence that added a special richness to the play.

But this review would be remiss if I didn’t mention the jaw-dropping costumes of Ryan Matthieu Smith.

There is a sort of decadence deserving of a couture runway.

The production is like a beautiful, entertaining dream that sweeps you away into another dimension.

“The Violet Hour” runs through April 23 at the Green Zone in the Design District.