Late Night Theatre Presents I'M LEAVING YOU MY FEET

The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's student-run theatre company, Late Night Theatre, opens its 2020-2021 series with the new work, I'm Leaving You My Feet, written by Alex Dekker, a senior theatre major. This exciting digital production of Dekker's expressionist script full of grief, pain, blood and occasional laughter draws the audience into Jules' world as she experiences and processes the death of her friend. Kicking off their digital season full of student work, Late Night Theatre asks: what is theatre when live audiences and in-person rehearsals are suspended?

I'm Leaving You My Feet, directed by MFA in Directing candidate Thea Wigglesworth, explores not only how we are prohibited from gathering to mourn our dead but also how our new digital existence affects our psyche. "2020 is a year of mourning, I personally know so many people who have passed away this year, but we are all grieving into our social media because we can't gather and process together," Wigglesworth said. "It's important too to note that there are a great deal of people for whom digital intimacy IS the norm - not just a fix in the time of COVID, but the standard of communication to which speaking in the flesh is ancillary," Dekker continues, "I think both of the show's protagonists are like that, so in that sense this method of delivery is even more accurate to the nature of their relationship."

Playwright Alex Dekker's original vision for the Earle Ernst Theatre was to put design elements like light and sound at the forefront. But when digital theatre became the delivery method, Dekker and Wigglesworth explained that they reimagined the world to fit inside "the screens we all stare at every day." The production now moves across Jules' social media; audiences will experience how her grief shifts from platform to platform. They further explained that this new kind of viewing experience, though entirely online, "still focuses on the ways in which we are all screaming into the abyss, but instead of a theatre it's the internet."

"Our goal is to fully engage the audience by drawing them inside of Jules' experience on Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok" says Wigglesworth. To this production team the online platform is just a new challenge and chance to explore. Patrons will be invited to share in this digital performance and sit, stand, lay, or otherwise immerse themselves in these universal experiences - grief, loss, and personal turmoil - and in doing so, reflect on how much the present emotional context affects memories of painful or tragic events.

Performances of I'm Leaving You My Feet will be accessible digitally on September 25, 26, and 27 at 7:30pm. Run time is approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. Ticket purchase information is available at http://manoa.hawaii.edu/liveonstage/feet/.

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