THEORETICAL ISOLATION: A Post Atomic Experiment-A provocative new theater experience
My nephew, Ira S. Murfin aka The Last Bohemian, and his band of heady artistic collaborators are at it again. They are presenting a bold new work this weekend. Curses-I’ll miss it because I am off the Central MidWest District Unitarian Universalist Assembly in Wisconsin those nights. Don’t let it happen to you. Below is all of the lowdown on a sure-to-be unique experience.
Theoretical Isolation: A Post Atomic Experiment is a collaboratively generated performance that premiered on March 20, 2009 at Arcosanti, an urban laboratory in the high desert of central Arizona, as the culmination of a week-long residency. The performance is inspired by the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, Shakespeare's The Tempest and the theories of Paolo Soleri, the Italian architect who founded Arcosanti.
This original multi-media, interdisciplinary, site-specific work incorporates scientific experimentation, Congressional testimony and vaudevillian magic. The performance has been re-imagined for its newest incarnation at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland Ave in Chicago on April 24 and 25 with performances at 7:30
Inspired by the discovery that The Tempest was among the literary texts discussed by
scientists at Los Alamos, the performance investigates historical and fictional characters who retreated from civilization in order to re-imagine it, working in geographic isolation to create books and bombs with the potential to change the world.
The performance piece focuses on two of these individuals: J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project, and Prospero, Shakespeare’s most famous magician.
Support for this project comes from Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts and The University of Chicago’s Summer Inc. program.
The Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials (LDSM) made up of Seth Bockley, Jessica Hudson, Chloe Johnston, Ira S. Murfin, Kerensa Peterson, Angela Tillges, and Seth Zurer. The members of LDSM are performance, literary, and visual artists variously affiliated with a number of prominent Chicago theatre companies, including Redmoon Theater, 500 Clown, Collaboraction, and the Neo -Futurists.
Previously, these artists collaborated on Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment produced by Walkabout Theatre Company at the Peter Jones Gallery in Chicago in 2007. Directed by Seth Bockley, the show featured three original performance pieces, each exploring a different American utopian society, woven together with text from Italo Calvino's novel Impossible Cities. An accompanying art exhibition, curated by Redmoon Theater's Angela Tillges, featured an international roster of artists.
The program played to sold-out houses and was recommended by Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader.
Suggested donation for the performance is $10. For reservations, please email info@substitutematerials.org