Near the beginning of Jay Scheib's experimental performance piece, scientist Dr. Robert Zubrin, an advocate of manned exploration of Mars, claims in a filmed interview that he is trying to solve 22nd-century problems with 20th-century technology and ideas. It's a pivotal statement, one that also helps to explain Scheib's unique approach to making theatre. Currently an associate professor of music and theatre arts at MIT, Scheib embraces his access to scientists and integrates media with live performance — acting, contemporary dance, improv, digital projections, live satellite feeds — creating an unruly mess of images that feels like theatre from a future time executed with the limited technology of today. Untitled Mars (This Title May Change) is the first in a planned trilogy of works titled Simulated Cities/Simulated Systems that will only increase the need for new ways of imagining what theatre can (and will) be.
The set is a supposed re-creation of the Mars Analogue Research Station in Utah and includes a white cylindrical room on one side, a white office with large windows on the other, and in the center a long table covered with microphones, digital video cameras, and sound equipment. Feeds from the cameras are projected on several screens, as are recorded footage and real-time interviews with experts at MIT. The mass of noise, images, and action generates fascination and frustration, but we're willing to sit through it because Scheib inspires trust that there is a purpose to the compulsive chaos and inscrutable dialogue.
There may be some sort of plot to follow, but the intentionally confused acting by a talented international cast keeps it from being obvious; the entire performance feels as if it might have sprouted organically in some creative hothouse. As soon as we start to slip into the passive role of an audience, however, Scheib jolts us out of it. When one character begins to play Mozart or another records a message, a loud vibrating noise erupts and destroys any somnolence. As characters' story lines and motivations appear credible, Scheib exposes the fakery of the entire production — reminding us that this is a poor simulation of another inadequate simulation. It's this characteristic that seems to define Scheib's vision as a sort of theatre of the psychotic.
Presented by and at Performance Space 122,
150 First Ave., NYC.
April 13-27. Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 4 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 6 p.m.
(212) 352-3101 or (866) 811-4111 or www.theatermania or www.ps122.org.