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The Brick Theater, Inc. presents a Gemini CollisionWorks production of ObJects: a new play written, designed, and directed by Ian W. Hill, assisted by Berit Johnson as part of THE COLLISIONWORKS 2011: At The Ends
At the end of a Nation. The United States, 50, maybe 70 years from now, tops. The country is ruled by geographic/corporate fiefdoms that can't hold the place together anymore (and a practically non-existent government), with a populace so overwhelmed by technological future shock and infotaining bread & circuses that it has lapsed into near-catatonia, and can no longer actually do anything anymore. One visionary, an eccentric capitalist diva, Mrs. Franklin - founder and CEO of The Kronos Corporation - secretly plans with brilliant young biohacker Miss Lee Lightfoot to create a "positive plague" - a modified contagious disease that will infect the brains of US citizens and make them process the modern world better and faster (and make them once again better producers and consumers). The top dozen members of Kronos - a collection of MBAs, surgically-modified psychics, backbiters, yuppies, and body servants -- debate the pros and cons of the plan, and try to figure out how to make their names and/or fortunes as part of it, as the disease turns out to have unexpected consequences . . .
A dense, dark, science-fiction satire, Ian W. Hill's ObJects drops you in a world where the underlying tensions of America in 2011 have only intensified, where corporate rule is now wholly sanctified, where the class war has been won (even if the losers don't know it), where computers run on human blood, and where man-eating robots are destroying cities (don't worry, they're being contained in the southwest). This year's collection of shows from Gemini CollisionWorks, The Collisionworks 2011: At The Ends (aka 3 Terminal Plays or 3 Ultimate Plays), focuses on finality, mortality, and the conclusion of all things, with the caveat that all endings bring the possibility of new beginnings. ObJects (and, yes, the odd spelling is intentional) attempts to meld Heartbreak House with Brazil by way of a David Cronenberg gene splicer, presenting the horrific end of the USA as a matter of no great importance to those who cause it, as class will always have its privileges, including the ability to escape the evil it sows.
Playwright/director/designer Ian W. Hill has created 68 stage productions since 1997 with his company Gemini CollisionWorks (and his collaborative partner Berit Johnson), both original plays and works by, among others, Vaclav Havel, Richard Foreman, T.S. Eliot, Clive Barker, Mac Wellman, Ronald Tavel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John Whiting, Jeff Goode, Mark Spitz, and Edward D. Wood, Jr. As a designer (light, sound, projections, sets) and technical/artistic consultant he has worked with many other stage artists and theatres for the past 20 years, most notably at Todo con Nada from 1996-2000, and he is currently the technical director of The Brick.The cast of this production is George Bronos, Josephine Cashman*, Samantha Erenberger, Saara Falk, Arthur Griffith, Cara Moretto, Nicholas Miles Newton, Justin Plowman, Leila Okafor, Jack Schaub, Rokia L. Shearin, Joy Song, and Anna Stefanic. * Appears Courtesy of Actors Equity Association
at The Brick 575 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211 ½ a block from the Lorimer stop of the L Train / Metropolitan-Grand stop of the G Train - www.bricktheater.com August 11, 12, 18, 21, 26, and 28 at 8.00 pm; August 13, 20 and 27 at 3.00 pm approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes long (including one intermission) All tickets: $18.00 Tickets available at the door or through theatermania.com (212-352-3101 or toll-free: 1-866-811-4111)
