HUMAN MUSEUM Begins Performances At Rorschach Theatre In April

Rorschach Theatre has announced the world-premiere of HUMAN MUSEUM by Miyoko Conley and directed by Randy Baker, April 12 – May 5, 2024.

As robots on Earth finalize a museum exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of humanity's extinction, an unexpected radio transmission disrupts everything they thought they knew. This darkly comic new play delves into our legacy and who will carry it forward. 

ABOUT THE PLAY & PRODUCTION 

Rorschach's co-Artistic Director Randy Baker will lead a talented team of artists to transform the two-story former retail store at 1020 Connecticut Avenue, NW into Miyoko Conley's visionary world: a living, breathing museum about the last days of humanity, created by robots. 

The robots' museum explores the end of mankind through the lens of twentieth century disaster films. Audiences enter the museum lobby and can explore the gift shop, several exhibits and the bar before settling into their seats to watch the 90 minute play. 

Human Museum was developed in Rorschach's 2023 MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES NEW PLAY LAB. 

“Miyoko Conley's play is funny and wise,” says Baker, “and though it is about the end of the world it is inherently hopeful. The apocalypse is not an end - it is a beginning. These robots are building something new and it is beautiful.” 

Human Museum features Ayanna Fowler, Bri Houtman, Ixchel, Rebecca Husk, Jennifer Knight, and Aron Spellane 

The design and production team includes Gavin Mosier as Set Designer, Ashlynne Ludwig as Costume Designer, Ian Vespermann as Sound Designer, Hailey LaRoe as Lighting Designer, Rooster Skylar Sultan as Props Designer, Kylos Brannon as Video Designer, Germar Townsend as Production Manager, and Sophia Menconi as Stage Manager. 

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR 

Miyoko Conley is an Asian American playwright, games writer, and scholar. She is also part of the team at the Center on Race and Digital Justice, where she works as an administrative and editorial assistant. Her plays have been presented at various theatres and universities, including at La Jolla Playhouse; Rorschach Theatre; Playwrights Foundation; UC Berkeley; UCLA; Second Generation (2g); The Tank; The Wild Project; and New York University. 

While not all her plays involve robots, many of them do, and she often writes about people living with, evolving with, and performing with technology. Works include Human Museum (developed at the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and Rorschach Theatre); Starship Dance Party (developed with the New Play Reading series at UC Berkeley); End of the World Place (developed with the New Play Reading series at UC Berkeley); Untitled Fantasy (part of 2g's Jumpstart Commissions); and Interchangeable Parts (part of 2g's Free Range Commissions). 

She was a winner of the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival; a semi-finalist of the 2015 Bay Area Playwrights Festival; runner-up of the 2011 George A. Kernodle Playwriting Award; and a winner of the 2010 Free Range Festival with 2g (Second Generation). Her work has been published in the zine Machine Dreams, co-edited by Margaret Rhee and Neil Aitken, and she has received commissions from 2g and Oklahoma City University's MFA Program in Screen Acting. 

Randy Baker is a director, playwright, and the co-Artistic Director of Rorschach Theatre. Recent shows he has directed with Rorschach include Very Still and Hard to See (Five Helen Hayes Nominations including Best Director), The Electric Baby, She Kills  Monsters (as well as the site-specific 2019 revival), The Minotaur and After the Quake. Recent shows he has directed outside of Rorschach include the seven-room living installation piece, Hello, My Name Is… at The Welders (Three Helen Hayes nominations including Best Director), a shadow puppet gamelan-inspired A Midsummer Night's Dream at WSC Avant Bard, Big Love at Catholic University, Anon/ymous at Georgetown University and his own adaptation of Rashōmon at American University. Recent plays he has written include the world premieres of Forgotten Kingdoms (winner of the Larry Neal writers award) and Truth & Beauty Bombs: A Softer World at Rorschach Theatre and workshops and educational productions of The Burning Road (Arena Stage), Monastery (Theater J), Rashōmon (American University and Spooky Action Theatre), Circus of Fallen Angels (NCDA and American University), wild42hold (George Washington University), and Between Days and Medea: A Teenage Revenge Tragedy at Theatre Lab. He is continuing to develop The Legend of Hang Tuah, a Malay epic with martial arts and shadow puppetry, developed in collaboration with Malay and Singaporean artists. 

RORSCHACH THEATRE 

Through uncommon uses of environment and intimate passionate performances, Rorschach Theatre seeks to lure its audiences beyond the limits of ordinary theatrical experience so that they may discover new elements of their own humanity. 

Learn more about Rorschach's 25 years of groundbreaking theatre in Washington DC at https://rorschachtheatre.com/about-us/mission/ .

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