[Chicago]

Annie Dorsen's The Great Outdoors at MCA Chicago
March 21, 2019, 12:00 pm
at MCA Chicago

Chicago: Come see performance work by Annie Dorsen, author of A Piece of Work (UDP 2017).
The Great Outdoors takes us on a sublime journey through inner space in the darkness of an inflatable planetarium. A lone performer reads texts culled from comments on the Internet. The text is fed through an algorithm, giving voice and body to the thoughts of countless individuals tapping away at their keyboards in isolation. Gradually, fragments of narrative emerge from the online chatter. At the same time, a spectacular, computer-generated starry sky unfolds above you. Dorsen invites us imagine the Internet’s infinite possibilities as a new form of celestial authority, and to explore the nature of human expression and communication.

Annie Dorsen works in a variety of fields, including theatre, film and dance. She is the co-creator of the Broadway musical Passing Strange, which she also directed and which was filmed by director Spike Lee. Since 2010, Dorsen has worked within “algorithmic theatre”, in which computer algorithms fuel her stage work. She received the 2014 Herb Alpert Award for the Arts in Theater and a 2016 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award. Annie Dorsen is a Visiting Professor in Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago.

Performances:
Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 7:30 pm
Fri, Mar 22, 2019, 7:30 pm
Sat, Mar 23, 2019, 7:30 pm
Sun, Mar 24, 2019, 2 pm

Tickets are $30, with student discounts available. This performance contains mature content. The running time is 55 minutes, with no intermission.

Please Note: The Great Outdoors is presented inside an enclosed dome structure on the stage of the theater, with cushion seating on the floor.

More information here.