VIDEO: Watch An All New Trailer For DATA, Now Streaming From Alliance Theatre

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition will continue to spotlight the best emerging playwrights with a virtual production of this year's winning play DATA and virtual readings of the four finalist plays. The 17th competition winner, DATA is a fast-paced thriller that looks behind the closed doors of Silicon Valley. DATA is written by Matthew Libby and the virtual production is directed by Susan V. Booth.

Check out an all new trailer below!

DATA takes audiences into the world of highly controversial technologies and the people who create them. In DATA, Maneesh is a brilliant entry-level programmer content to work in the low-stress environment of User Experience until he learns the true nature of his company's confidential business. Faced with a crisis of conscious, Maneesh must come to terms with his own American identity and the personal and societal cost of his work.

To accomplish a visually compelling and COVID-safe video capture of DATA for streaming, the Alliance partnered with Georgia State University's Creative Media Industries Institute (CMII). The production relied heavily on the CMII greenscreen studios, labs, and motion-capture software. The facilities allowed the actors to remain 10-20 feet apart while filming scenes where they will appear to be sitting on the same couch or playing a game of ping pong.

In addition to the filmed production of DATA, each live performance will begin with an interactive lobby experience developed by Atlanta-based company, SUBSUME. A tech platform for storytellers, SUBSUME allows audience members to create their own avatar, walk around, talk and interact with other audience members, and enter the virtual theater to watch the production together, all from their own computer screen.

The cast of DATA includes Jake Berne (Actor's Express: Skintight), Clare Latham (Off Broadway: Fairview), Stephen Hu (Berkeley Rep: The Great Wave), and Cheech Manohar (Broadway: Mean Girls).

The creative team of DATA is led by Director Susan V. Booth, Alliance Theatre Jennings Hertz Artistic Director, and includes Assistant Director Jayson T. Waddell, Lighting Designer Andre Allen, Editor Ron Heidt, Sound Designer Chris Lane, Location Scout David Luse, Prop Designer Suzanne Cooper Morris, Costumer Designer Leslie Taylor, and Line Producer Amanda Watkins.

Live virtual performances of DATA are Thursdays - Sundays, May 6 - 23, 2021. The streaming production is also available on-demand, without the live experience, anytime between May 6 - 23, 2021. Tickets and info are available at www.alliancetheatre.org/data.

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