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With the NEA defunded and the US officially at war, a trio of artists set out to build a utopia together in the ruins of a sub-tropical hotel. NEXT YEAR PEOPLE is part faux documentary- an exploration of what it means to make work together in a new political climate, and part improvised party- a bacchanalian unraveling of our best laid plans. Katie Bender and Gabrielle Reisman, of Austin’s immersive theatre collective, Underbelly (Alice in Wonderland, Church of the Passionate Cat), join Rachel Mars (Our Carnal Hearts, Fusebox 2016) in this workshop of a new piece about the search for meaningful community in the rising shadow of social destruction. Like the farmers who rode out the Dust Bowl in the Texas Panhandle, sure that the next year would bring better weather, NEXT YEAR PEOPLE pushes at the limits of hope. It tracks our shared desire to live multiple lives at once through bad robot dance, braided choral narrative, and one fly-by-night utopia.

From Fusebox

Two artists who pen people playing other people and another who pines for people to play themselves, moored on an island, attempt to build, from sticky notes, a raft that will get them to utopia.

Credits

Collaborators: Kelsey Oliver

Choreography: Peter Stopschinski

Sound Design: Shawn Sides

Friendly Practice Audience Hannah Kenah: Hannah Kenah