Gun Play Aims for Long Island City, Jan. 12-Feb. 4 2006
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 02, 2005
Gun Play "is a celebration of firearms as they are
represented in American popular culture. Drawing parallels between real violence
and imagined violence, the performance will recreate the world of 3-D
first-person-shooter videogames on stage while integrating videogame footage
using high-tech video and computers. The audience, wearing headphones (Quake
Convention style), watch the gun and gamer world come to life with an all-star
cast of real-life gun relevant personalities like Hunter S. Thompson, Ted
Nugent, William S. Burroughs and John Carmack (the guy who made Doom and Quake
who is personally responsible for major advances in 3D graphics), et al. The
cast plays videogames, manipulate realistic weaponry, and step into the shoes of
real life personalities," state press notes.
"Gun Play is about real violence and real guns, and
their relationship to the highly realistic but exaggerated fantasy worlds
represented in video games and Hollywood movies. How do those worlds intersect?
There will be a lot of choreography inspired by fps videogames, John Woo and
films like The Matrix" said creator Brian Rogers. "There will also be real-time
physics demonstrations where the difference between a real gun shot and a
videogame gunshot, physics-wise, is shown. It's a very high tech show: 3
projectors, several computers, and real time video processing (courtesy of a
major grant from the Bel Geddes Foundation)".
The creative team includes director and video
designer Brian Rogers, set designer David Evans Morris, lighting designer Beth Turomasha and costume designer Maggie Dick. It also features audio by Chris Peck, and fight direction by Timothy Haskell.
Tickets are $15 and
can be purchased by calling Theatermania at 212.352.3101 or by going to www.theatermania.com. Thursdays
will be "Pay What You Can" for Queens residents. For more information,
please visit www.chocolatefactorytheater.org.
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