New Play MARS by Daniel Mesta to Debut at The Chain Theatre

What remains of our identity when the world and people that defined us are gone? This is the central question of MARS, a haunting new play by Daniel Mesta, making its debut on January 27th at The Chain Theatre.

A Russian-style drama in (mostly) English set in the biting isolation of the High Arctic, MARS follows the final days of the last two humans on Earth. Trapped within a failing research station after an apocalyptic event, a Russian-American glaciologist and a Mexican-American climatologist must navigate the wreckage of their competing histories as they face an inevitable end. While they reflect on people, progress and Pushkin, a series of unexpected confessions and confrontations threatens a chaotic end to the human story. 

The production is uniquely structured around Gustav Holst’s symphonic suite The Planets, which serves as both a literal and metaphorical pacing device as the characters count down their final confrontation with the void.

“MARS is not just a survival story; it’s an autopsy of the human spirit,” says playwright Daniel Mesta. “By placing them in this ‘non-place,’ we explore the meaning of home, the performance of place as identity, and the political-turned-personal, all while the clock ticks." 

The play explores the psychological intricacies of an ultimate act of closure: wrapping up the story of human existence. "This sets the scene for a biting, philosophical dialogue between the fatalism of the East and the fractured dreams of the West, as well as the counterbalance of our search for meaning through the heavy fog of global regret."