The event featured a series of workshop sessions, culminating in a public performance of scenes from:

HESPERIA

by Randall Colburn

The story of two porn stars who become born-again Evangelicals, attempts to explore life's two greatest mysteries (Sex and God) in the most intimate fashion possible. Navigating between dialogues, monologues, reader's theatre, and sketches, the play relies on the actors and atmosphere to reveal its most naked truths.

 Playwright Bio

ACROSS A DISTANCE

by Nick Lantz

This is an allegorical story that describes the connection people are able to make in the most improbable of circumstances.  It takes place in a magical world where two unlikely persons find a way to come together.  First we have Woman, a scientist who lives alone on an island where she communicates with the trees through her singing.  Next we have Man,  a storyteller and artist who lives alone on another island; he communicates via ASL (American Sign Language) to the birds on his island.  Although Man and Woman "speak" in such seemingly exclusive ways, this multi-media musical piece is about the magnetic connection between them, and their struggles to find a way to bridge the gap, to find the space between.

Playwright bio

Director bio:  Kelly J.G. Bremner

Composer bio:  Scott Gendel

Actress bio:  Julia Faulkner as WOMAN

Actor bio:  Robert Schleifer as MAN

MUSICA MUNDANA

by M.E.H. Lewis

A group of die-hard science fiction aficionados alleviate the mundane nature of their daily lives by writing and filming their own science fiction movies, which form a story with the story. Gradually, the sci-fi narrative slips the track and becomes the main story. the story tellers must adapt with the changing narrative or be left behind. A serious comedy about Star Trek, string theory and the meaning of life.

Playwright Bio

Check out of the Musica Mundana blog

EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED

by Chelsea M. Marcantel

In 1959, Brion Gysin invented a stroboscopic flicker device called the Dreamachine, designed to open wide the consciousness of the user and induce visions and hallucinations.  Fifty years later, the information age has made it possible for an entire subculture of artists and students to create and distribute plans for their own Dreamachines, and a subculture of users and designers for the device is quietly experimenting.  What are the possible repercussions of individuals with no training in brain functionality or mathematics experimenting upon the subconscious minds of themselves and their peers?  Is the machine art, or science?  Who is held responsible for its misuse?  And what, exactly, are these people trying to escape.

These are the questions explored in Everything is Permitted, a one-act play with accompanying video installation.  The play centers around four characters in their early twenties who are drawn into the culture of the Dreamachine for their own specific reasons.  The video component of the piece will allow audience members to see the visions that the characters are experiencing as the play hurtles toward its arresting conclusion. 

Playwright Bio

Video Artist Bio:  Christopher Schreck

WHERE & WHEN

7:30 pm

Theatre Building Chicago

1225 W. Belmont Avenue

This program was supported by a grant from The Saints: