2020 \ Jan 23 - Feb 9
Ways to Leave a Body
A collision of new plays by
Alexa Derman and Roxie Perkins
Directed By Maya Herbsman
and Allie Moss
There’s a door in front of you — are you on the right side? A countdown clock methodically ticks its way towards zero — what happens when time’s up? Your heart palpitates, your palms itch — but, do you move? Can you move?
In a rare collaboration, four visionary emerging artists co-create an out-of-body theater experience around disassociation: the detachment of the “you” you feel and the “you” we see. Ways to Leave a Body asks, are we our bodies, a kismet match, or are these bodies our unfriendly containers?
WATCH THE TRAILER
PLAYWRIGHTS
Alexa Derman
"Ways to Leave a Body takes the singularly personal experience of embodiment and attempts to expand it outwards towards something that can be experienced collectively. When I think about writing plays, I think about the inherent tension between the privacy and intimacy of writing (alone in my room, late at night, usually while making weird faces at my computer) and the joy and complexity of seeing a script brought to life by others. Playwriting negotiates the private and the social and this piece for me is really about translating that personal experience (of chronic illness, of pain, of depersonalization) into something collective and shared."
Roxie Perkins
"Who doesn’t love a love story? My part of Ways to Leave a Body examines both the potential dangers and protective powers of romanticizing the past. Through a nonlinear structure, filmic sound design, and the use of pre-recorded text mixed with live performance-- we're exploring toxic romanticism as well as the challenge of achieving “self-love” for those whose sense of self is fractured due to a history of trauma.... a meditation on dissociation."DIRECTORS
Maya Herbsman
“How do we rebuild the thread that connects our physical and mental worlds? Ways to Leave a Body uses the stories of two young women to investigate these questions, while exploring and pushing the boundaries of form. It takes issues that impact so many and allows them to become deeply personal, romantic, frightening, mysterious, mischievous, and humorous.”
Allie Moss
“We often think of a body and a mind as two pieces of one whole person, and this play asks us to consider what happens when a body functions in opposition to the person occupying it. How much of who we are, what we do, and how we identify is defined by our bodies?”
CAST
Renee Rogoff
Adam Niemann
Kaitlyn Ortega
Eliza Boivin
GALLERY
Photos by Cheshire Isaacs
BEFORE THE SHOW
For hand-crafted cocktails and seasonally-inspired plates, visit The Douglas Room at Tilden Hotel! Located just one block from the theater, the Douglas Room is our favorite spot to fortify (and even indulge) before or after a show.
Artwork:
Doomsday Awareness by Yukari Sakura
© 2019 Creativity Explorted Licensing, LLC.
www.creativityexplored.org
