Horace Mann Theater, NYC - March 7-10, 2012

Co-Created by Simòn Adinia Hanukai & Naïma Kristel Philips with the ensemble

 

An interactive, multi-media performance in which the audience accompanies four characters on their personal journeys as their birthday worlds collapse and unveil their mythological DNA. Four plays weave in and out of each other like DNA strands as audience members glimpse into the shattered pieces of the characters' lives.

 

From the audience's movement through the space, to the textures of the scenery, to the intimacy of the rooms they visit, to their interactions with performers and fellow participants, Birthday Triage provides a unique sensory experience. The audience eats and drinks, smells rosewood or mint. They dip their hands in water; they dip fruit in a chocolate fountain. They share stories and build altars. Perhaps most importantly, they engage with their surroundings and share with each other in events that unfold into our vision for a larger community.

 

Birthday Triage thrives to create a new mythology - borrowed from age-old myths and folklore and informed by the science of today. A mythology that helps us decode the language of our subconscious, address our fears and desires and confronts us with the harsh realities of our human nature. From natural disasters, to wars and revolutions, to economic failures, the world has seen so much conflict and devastation in the last century. The ripples of this shattering reverberate throughout our communities, and yet we are numb to the crises around us. We live in a world of the "me". We have become so good at convincing ourselves that the suffering of others does not regard us, that some of us don't even feel it when it is within us. Birthday Triage attempts to break this pattern.