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Keep the Light On
“We gather to remember
and to forget. We offer thanks to those who came
before for giving us this space – we are grateful for its
shelter. Inside its walls we can find a moment's peace in the
midst of the storm.”
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Sponsored by:
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Keep the Light On had its final performance Saturday,
March 8. Thanks to everyone who saw the show and to all the
creative artists who made it possible.
Annex's next show is S2, a play by Edward Mast, opening May 9, 2008. |
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Reviews
“If you gotta have a gimmick, the one Annex Theatre employs in
Keep the Light On is an eco-friendly dandy. ... What a novelty, in an age
of digital and automatic everything, to see the cheerful, muscle-toned cast
members take turns whirring away on stationary bikes.”
Foxy Populi “is a hilarious, sharp-fanged satire on the downfall of Western civilization, through the meltdown of a crazed blond pop star..., a swift, smash-mouthed portrait of celeb self-destruction. ... Even people who wouldn't be caught dead reading People magazine at the supermarket should know enough about Britney Spears to find this whipsaw version of her saga smart, funny and horrifying.” 1001 is “a skein of surreal scenes spun by a Scheherazade-like delivery boy who tangles with a one-eyed pharmacist, a homicidal client and a lisping Mexican widow.” ElectriCity is “sweet and twisted, a puppet/human chronicle of a curious child and her mother visiting the world's last remaining amusement park.” “Bravo to Annex for continuing its irreverent explorations – and for ‘going green’ in a whole new way.” – Misha Berson, Seattle Times
Foxy Populi is “fast and furious and sad and strange. ... Megan Ahiers channels Britney [Spears]...as if Britney had suddenly shown up to be in this play.”
ElectriCity “had the most intriguing contexts and the best acting from Pamala Mijatov as a little girl who visits this strange amusement park. She has a particularly haunting little girl voice, as she observes too much for her own good.” Keep the Light On is “a worthy effort, an interesting evening and a challenge to think about.” – Miryam Gordon, Seattle Gay News
Keep the Light On “is an exercise in anti-conventional
comedy.... The show is made up of three darkly comic one-acts...overwhelmed
with shadows.” Keep the Light On “is a uniquely
theatrical take on the familiar theme of a dystopian future....
Six plucky performers struggle to put on a show. Their hands, faces and
clothes are smudged with dirt, but their creative spirits are
unblemished.”
– Joe Adcock, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Keep the Light On is “a well-done and novel sort of
play-within-a-play which channels three curious vignettes of imagination
and moral wonder.”
– Neil Corcoran, Seattle Weekly
About the Show
To keep spirits high after a world-changing catastrophe, a small group of hardy survivors have put together a theatre troupe to entertain their community. This evening of three new plays is presented using only the electricity created by two human-powered generators operated by the actors. Each of the three scripts in Keep the Light On takes a different approach toward entertainment in a disastrously changed world, offering a variety of ways "to remember, and to forget":
Origins
Keep the Light On began as an experiment in human-powered lighting. The show's creator, Max Reichlin, wanted to discover what could be done on stage when all electricity is provided by actors pedaling custom-made generators. "It turns out that it's tricky – people don't make much power," Max said. "So the show would look different from a traditional play in terms of the lighting." This line of thinking led Max to a conclusion about the content of the show: “I thought ‘When would people actually use people to power a theatre?’ I've always enjoyed apocalyptic literature and I realized that in a post-apocalyptic world, with no electricity, somebody just might perform theatre this way. So that's why the evening is composed of three plays presented by an imaginary, post-apocalyptic, theatre company.” Off the Grid
Keep the Light On will provide a total-immersion experience in the world of the future, according to director Ellie McKay: “Our dream is to take Annex Theatre ‘off the grid’ for each performance,” she said. “This means that the moment the audience enters our space, there is no outside electricity entering the building. To light the hall, we will hook up a car battery to some lights. Actors will be riding the generators on the stage to light the audience's seats. Bathrooms will be lit by the users providing light with hand-crank flashlights. Instead of programs we will have a wall with hand-written information on recycled paper for people to read." Keep the Light On is the second show of Annex's 4-show season. It opens February 8, and plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. through March 8. Tickets are available online and at the door. Special Features
Cast and Crew
Special Thanks
Annex Theatre's 21st Season is generously supported by: 4Culture, Flintridge Foundation, Seattle Foundation, the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Microsoft, and The Boeing Company. Thanks to GreenIsSexy.org for featuring KTLO as their Spotlight of the Month for January 2008! Special thanks to Wright Brothers Cycle Works in Seattle for their support and donations to this project. Thanks to Cranked Magazine for blogging about KTLO. |
Photos
Click for large images.
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