Glass Mind to Present THE DUM DUMS, 3/13-4/4

Glass Mind blasts off into the cosmos with a fully-produced workshop of THE DUM DUMS by Joshua Conkel

(MILKMILKLEMONADE; OKAY, BYE) coming this Spring. Benjamin Kamine directs this dark comedy.

Three female astronauts take off to explore a super-Earth when a programming error threatens their mission. Maybe it's the reality TV or the White Castle cheeseburgers - but when the hallucinations start - we have to ask who, or what, is out there?

"We looked for someone who could shake up our GMT habits and challenge us creatively with new approaches to ensemble and storytelling," says Ann Turiano of Kamine. Turiano is a cast member and Glass Mind's Literary Manager. Kamine's credits include The Goodman Theatre and The Flea Theater. "Ben has worked all over the country and he brings a whole new bag of tricks--movement methods, style choices, and gestural work--to our group. It's lovely to walk into rehearsal each day and be greeted with so much creative fuel."

Last Spring, Conkel's OKAY, BYE was produced at Steppenwolf Theatre's First Look series, and he is a member of The Management Theatre Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre. New York Press voted his MILKMILKLEMONADE the Best Off-Off-Broadway show of 2009. He is also an alumna of Youngblood, the intensive, competitive playwrights' group at Ensemble Studio Theatre. "We chose Josh Conkel (pictured) not just because he's insanely talented, but because his perspective is unlike anything we've produced," says Turiano.

Conkel explains what distinguishes the play as a fully-produced workshop as opposed to simply labeling the show as a new work. "I'm writing it on the fly, taking notes and suggestions from the actors and production crew, we're playing on our feet with Ben," he says. "Really, we're making the play as a group."

THE DUM DUMS features a cast of Glass Mind company members. This is the first time this has happened since 2010, when GMT produced ANTARCTICA, their first full-length play. Turiano is joined by Director of Special Projects (and founding company member) Liz Galuardi and Development Director Sam Hayder..

The idea for the play began as a personal journal, with an inventive twist. "I moved to New Zealand for a year after falling into a deep depression and a big part of coming out of that was to keep a journal," he says. "Because writing about myself is boring, I kept a journal as a depressed woman astronaut who was trapped on a distant planet."

In regards to the title of THE DUM DUMS, Conkel wanted to explore depression's physical effects. "There's a general 'heaviness' and a lack of mental clarity," he says. The title also doubles as a way to explore depressions' other aspects.

"In lots of ways, depression just makes you stupid," Conkel says. "It feels good to indulge our lowest selves when we're depressed: eating junk food, binge watching television, having inadvisable sex etc."

Kamine believes that the "stupidity" caused by depression is a sort of coping mechanism. "Sometimes, the best thing we can do for ourselves is the thing that feels good, even if it's objectively unproductive," he says. "However, when watching an episode of your favorite show devolves into days of binge-watching, the spiral can be tough to emerge from."

A longtime fan of Conkel, Kamine calls THE DUM DUMS both "an instant Conkel classic" and a "total love letter to science fiction." Kamine graduated from engineering school himself, and has always taken an interest with that genre. Still, he ensures that those who don't consider themselves to be sci-fi fans will be able to relate to the show.

"The play is, at its core, about how you keep fighting to survive when things seem hopeless."

Glass Mind brings THE DUM DUMS to Gallery 788 in Hampden (3602 Hickory Ave.) The play will run various dates from March 13 - April 4, 2015. Tickets are available at www.glassmindtheatre.com. Join the company in talking about the play on Twitter ( - @GlassMindThtr), by using the hashtag #PlanetShannon!

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