After GCW and The Brick are brought COLLISIONWORKS 2011: AT THE END back for a limited time, the production will close on February 11th.
This was the first season in which Gemini CollisionWorks presented wholly original work. These “Three Ultimate Plays,” though indeed about finality, mortality, and the conclusion of all things, contain the caveat that each tragic ending can bring the possibility of a glorious new beginning. At turns both funny and heartbreaking, the sprawling, violent ObJects, the touching Antrobus, and the poetic Gone all face the reality of their terminal endings with a smile and the belief that there will always be someone left to carry on, remember history, and start again.
Antrobus
At the end of the world, or soon after, or soon before, as the ice rises and the food grows scarce, the six members of a “family” that has banded together for survival begin to turn on each other as the years of hardship, cabin fever, and resentment catch up with them, and neither the old or young members of the family are sure what to do next: stay still and avoid risk, or move forward and search for other people and ways of living in a changed world. The one thing they have to hold onto are the pages of a thick history book, telling the story of how the world came apart, which mysteriously comes apart itself every night and must be ritually restored, every single day.
Gone
At the end of a life, two dear old friends sit at a cafe table and reminisce. One of them will not be leaving. But before that, and before, during and after night falls, they will share, argue, debate, and discuss the details of their shared and separate lives, in a form of the English language that is nearly unrecognizable, made of almost nothing but portmanteau words and echoes of familiar sounds. But these sounds may become understandable and meaningful, if you really listen to them. But be careful how close you listen, as the pain is never far away.
ObJects
At the end of the Nation, the United States is ruled by geographic/corporate fiefdoms that can't hold the place together anymore (and a practically non-existent government), with a populace so overwhelmed by technological future shock and infotaining bread & circuses that it has lapsed into near-catatonia, and can no longer actually DO anything anymore. One visionary, an eccentric capitalist diva, Mrs. Franklin — founder and CEO of the Kronos Corporation — secretly plans with brilliant young biohacker Miss Lee Lightfoot to create a “positive plague” — a modified contagious disease that will infect the brains of US citizens and make them process the modern world better and faster (and make them once again better producers and consumers). The top dozen members of Kronos — a collection of MBAs, surgically-modified psychics, backbiters, yuppies, and body servants — debate the pros and cons of the plan, and try to figure out how to make their names and/or fortunes as part of it, as the disease turns out to have unexpected consequences.
