the realm
april 15 - may 8, 2016
The Side Project
Written by Sarah Myers
Directed by Kelly Howe
Directed by Kelly Howe
synopsis
“They took the words they wanted
and renamed the ones that we could keep.”
In an underground future not so far from now, teenagers Kansas and James try to escape a terrifying (new?) world order. The regime known as The Realm controls not only water and other natural resources—but even the very ability of its citizens to remember words themselves. As Kansas and James fight for the right to speak, choose, and desire, their journey overlaps with that of a mysterious woman who refuses to submit to The Realm despite the high price she pays for her resistance.
From the crisis of poisoned water in Flint, Michigan to violence and privatization in Chicago to suffering under austerity in Europe to many other examples around the world, leaders too often consolidate power through the control and abuse of resources. How do systems of power try to shut down resisters? Why and how do these systems marginalize young people? What happens when your desires push outside a regime’s boundaries? How can we fight back when leaders make resources seem more scarce than they actually are? As we struggle for a more just world, what is concretely at stake in our ability to hold on to our words? Sarah Myers’ The Realm stages urgent questions about the relationship between language, power, solidarity, and survival.
and renamed the ones that we could keep.”
In an underground future not so far from now, teenagers Kansas and James try to escape a terrifying (new?) world order. The regime known as The Realm controls not only water and other natural resources—but even the very ability of its citizens to remember words themselves. As Kansas and James fight for the right to speak, choose, and desire, their journey overlaps with that of a mysterious woman who refuses to submit to The Realm despite the high price she pays for her resistance.
From the crisis of poisoned water in Flint, Michigan to violence and privatization in Chicago to suffering under austerity in Europe to many other examples around the world, leaders too often consolidate power through the control and abuse of resources. How do systems of power try to shut down resisters? Why and how do these systems marginalize young people? What happens when your desires push outside a regime’s boundaries? How can we fight back when leaders make resources seem more scarce than they actually are? As we struggle for a more just world, what is concretely at stake in our ability to hold on to our words? Sarah Myers’ The Realm stages urgent questions about the relationship between language, power, solidarity, and survival.
the cast
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Philip Winston
Sarah Jeanette Taylor* Esme Ayvar-Perez Abdu Hytrek Carin Silkaitis* Gay Glenn Bryson David Hoff Savanna Rae Cassie Nelson Liliana Mastroianni Bryan Renaud |
Mr. Father
Mrs. Mother Kansas James Laura Ms. Analyst Ensemble, Mr. Father u/s Ensemble Ensemble Kansas u/s James u/s |
the artists
Playwright: Sarah Myers
Director: Kelly Howe
Stage Manager: Emily Lowney
Scenic Design: Lizzie Bracken
Lighting Design: Matt Carney
Sound Design: Ashley Pettit
Costumes: Olivia Crary
Choreography: Cassie Nelson
Casting Director: Noelle Humbert
Casting Assistant: Stephen Kossak
Director: Kelly Howe
Stage Manager: Emily Lowney
Scenic Design: Lizzie Bracken
Lighting Design: Matt Carney
Sound Design: Ashley Pettit
Costumes: Olivia Crary
Choreography: Cassie Nelson
Casting Director: Noelle Humbert
Casting Assistant: Stephen Kossak
Kelly Howe (Director) is an activist/ teacher/ artist/ writer/ dialogue facilitator based in Oak Park. She is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Coordinator of Gender and Women’s Studies at North Central College. Currently Immediate Past President of the international organization Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, Kelly served PTO for two terms as president and two terms as international conference co-chair. She is also an active member of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), which she serves as a member of the 2014 Conference Committee and Secretary of the Theatre and Social Change focus group. Recently directed plays includeWay to Heaven, The Threepenny Opera, Elephant’s Graveyard,God of the Gaps, The Eye and Tooth Project (with Kathleen Juhl),Phoenix Unforgiven. She also served as a consulting dramaturg forFreewheelers at A Broken Umbrella Theatre (New Haven, CT). Kelly's writing appears in Text and Performance Quarterly, Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, and Comparative Drama and she recently co-edited (with Julian Boal and Scot McElvany) Theatre of the Oppressed in Actions: An Audio-Visual Introduction to Boal’s Forum Theatre (Routledge 2014). Kelly holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Theatre and English from Muhlenberg College.
reviews |
Sarah Myers (Playwright) is a Chicago native currently living in Minneapolis. Her work has been produced and developed at the Wild Project, FronteraFest, the Off Center, the Blue Theater, the David Mark Cohen New Works Festival, the Women & Theater Conference, and Indiana Repertory Theater, among others. Published plays include The Realm (Bonderman National Youth Playwriting Award), God of the Gaps (Pushcart Prize nominee), and In and Out. Sarah is a former company member of Austin-based theatre collective Rude Mechanicals, an associate member of Twin Cities-based Workhaus Collective, and an ongoing collaborator with Sod House Theater, a company that creates adaptations and new works with communities throughout Minnesota. A graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin, Sarah is an Associate Professor in the Theater Department and MFA Creative Writing Program at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Her solo play I Do Today will be featured during Greenhouse Theater Center’s Solo Celebration, co-produced with Other Theatre, in the fall of 2016.
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"Director Kelly Howe and the clever design team at The Other Theatre Company have made a virtue out of austerity, transforming the cramped black box into a garishly-colored, claustrophobic nightmare that does not merely engage the audience but engulfs them."
-NewCity Stage "...movingly symbolic and liberatingly high-quality." -The Hawk Chicago |
"Director Kelly Howe nicely exploits the script's creepy menace...
playwright Sarah Myers packs her new drama with lots of potent ideas." -Chicago Reader |
