Interactive Romp 3/FIFTHS Transforms 3LD Into Dystopian Theme Park Tonight

Opening tonight at 3-Legged Dog is the world premiere of 3/Fifths, conceived and written by James Scruggs, with direction and dramaturgy by Tamilla Woodard and Kareem Fahmy, and choreographed by André M. Zachery. 3/Fifths, an interactive romp through the minefields of racism in the US, turns 3LD Art and Technology Center into SupremacyLand, a dystopian theme park that puts white privilege on display.

Choose your race when you get to the door, but choose carefully because you cannot change your mind. Once you enter SupremacyLand, you are guided to The Atrocity Carnival where historical and contemporary atrocities are transformed, elevated, and celebrated, as fun, radically interactive games, contests and experiences. Win Supremacy Dollars (good for beer!) at the Noose Making Booth! Climb aboard The Race Ride, where audience members can experience an alternate race! Sing out with Rodney King Karaoke! Take a selfie in a chalk outline! (Fragility nurses are available during the Carnival for short sessions.)

The audience leaves the The Atrocity Carnival through 3LD's tubular lobby, which is transformed using video mapping into a slave ship in the middle of a transatlantic crossing. The ship deposits audience members into SupremacyLand's Cabaret, where re-enactments of daily incidents of white supremacy are performed.

Incorporating large-scale immersive video, performance, text, music, and radical interactivity, 3/Fifths is a bold examination of America's shameful history of racism and a daring commentary on the virtual weaponization of black skin that remains prevalent in this country. James Scruggs' ethno-theme park presents racism as viewed through a fun house mirror, and offers a close approximation of the smorgasbord of carnage perpetrated upon African Americans simply by virtue of the color of their skin. Shocking, grotesque, and uncomfortably entertaining, 3/Fifths upends the audience's notions of racial identity, safety, and privilege.

"In 2005, I wrote and performed Disposable Men ("an angry play about racism that is also slyly funny" New York Times) in response to an encounter with a policeman in NYC which could have escalated to a fatal level. The general notion at the time was that Black men were larger than life, more like Hollywood monsters, and they were being killed by policemen with no consequence," explains 3/Fifths creator and playwright James Scruggs. "This phenomenon not only has continued, but it's escalated. My hope is that audiences who attend 3/Fifths will get a glimpse of some of the actual historical occurrences that now live as physical, measurable biological traumas inside living African Americans."

The cast features Dean Acree, Catherine Braxton, Alyson Brown, Matthew Brown, Michael Bryan, Vienna Carroll, Natalie Chapman, Tyler Crosby, Marie Donna Davis, William Delaney, Grace Duffey, Monica Howe, Dylan Kammerer, Larissa Jeanniton, Ashley Lopez, Lionel Macauley, Dexter McKinney, Keleigh Principi, David Roberts, Dhane Ross, Parker Allen Stanley, Meagan Stevenson, Ken Straus, Gaby Vallejos, Khiry Walker, Lauren White, and Spencer York. With Giovanni Miguel Naarendorp and Lionel Macauley as Incarceration Installation Performers.

The design team includes David Ogle ("Carnival" scenic designer); Christopher & Justin Swader ("Cabaret" scenic designers); Ayumu POE Saegusa (lighting designer); Andreea Mincic (costume design); Mark Van Hare (composer, sound designer, music arrangements); Melanie West (sound design); Jamie West (additional sound design); Cam Vokey (video projection design); Jon Bremner (video design); and Jess Adams (prop master).

Halle Morse is the line producer and production manager. The Production Stage Manager is Liz Haroian. The Stage Manager is Clarissa Marie Ligon.

The performance schedule is Tuesday - Saturday at 7 PM & 7:15 PM; Sunday at 4 PM & 4:15 PM. Please note, the performance time on Sunday, May 28 is at 6:30 PM & 6:45 PM. Performances are at 3LD Art & Technology Center (80 Greenwich Street, at Rector, in downtown Manhattan). Tickets are $25 and are available by calling Brown Paper Tickets on 800-838-3006 or visiting www.3ldnyc.org. For more information, visit www.3fiths.org.

3-Legged Dog is a non-profit community-oriented and artist-run production development studio for emerging and established artists and organizations that create large-scale experimental artworks of all kinds. From our home 3LD Art & Technology Center in Lower Manhattan, 3LD has built an unrivaled talent magnet, drawing artists from around the globe to New York to create large-scale, immersive and technology-driven projects in New York City. Since opening in 2006, we have hosted thousands of artists through our 3LD Residency Program, offering a unique experience with 24/7 access to specialized equipment, flexible space and expert knowledge, as well as the desperately needed time to fully realize their visions.

3-Legged Dog exists to produce new, original works in theater, performance, media and hybrid forms. Working out of a strong literary tradition, our mission is to explore the new narrative possibilities created by digital technology, and to provide an environment for our artists to create new tools and modes of expression so that they can excel across a range of disciplines.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

James Scruggs (creator/playwright) is a writer and performer who creates large scale topical, theatrical, multi-media work usually focused on inequity or gender politics. He was recently awarded a 2016 NJSCA Fellowship for artistic excellence, a 2016 Creative Capital Grant, and a 2015 MAP Grant to create 3/Fifths, an interdisciplinary piece exploring race and racism today. It is inspired by Disposable Men, his 2005 multi-media solo performance work, which juxtaposed images from Hollywood monster movies with the harsh reality of the historical treatment of black men in America. It was produced by HERE Arts Center and toured to Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Providence, and Amherst. He is currently working diligently as lead artist on 3/Fifths, which is being produced by 3 Legged Dog and will be presented in both of their theatrical spaces, creating a dystopian theme park called SupremacyLand. He is a consultant and Fieldwork facilitator for The Field, leading peer-to-peer performing artist feedback workshops in NYC and artist retreats. James has a BFA in Film from School of Visual Arts. www.jamesscruggs.com

Kareem Fahmy (director/dramaturg, "The Cabaret") is a Canadian-born director of Egyptian descent. He recently co-developed and directed the world premieres of Sevan K. Greene's This Time (Sheen Center) - a New York Times Critic's Pick - and Victor Lesniewski's Couriers and Contrabands (TBG Theatre). Other recent: the world premiere of Nikkole Salter's Indian Head (Luna Stage), We Live In Cairo (National Alliance for Musical Theatre), "The Every 28 Hours Plays" (The Flea Theater; The New Group/Labyrinth Theater Co./Working Theatre). Upcoming: Twice, Thrice, Frice... by Fouad Teymour (Silk Road Rising, Chicago). Kareem is currently a Resident Director at The Flea Theater, a member of The Civilians R&D Group, and was a 2015 Director-in-Residence at The New Museum. He's worked extensively in new play development with organizations including New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, Second Stage, Soho Rep, New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Sundance Institute Theatre, Partial Comfort Productions, Fresh Ground Pepper, Noor Theatre, Ma-Yi, and Berkeley Rep. He is an alumnus of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the Van Lier Directing Fellowship, and NTYW's Emerging Artist Fellowship. Kareem is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. He holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University. www.KareemFahmy.com

Tamilla Woodard (director/dramaturg, "The Atrocity Carnival") is co-founder of PopUp Theatrics, a partnership creating site specific theatrical events around the world and in collaboration with international theatre artists. Currently, she is the Artistic Director of The Five Boroughs/One City Project, a multi year initiative of The Working Theater supporting the commissioning and development of 5 Playwright/Director teams working in collaborations and creating theatrical works in response to working class communities in all five boroughs of NYC. She is a past Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theater, a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, alumnus of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and artistic affiliate with New Georges. She graduated from The Yale School of Drama's Acting program and is the recipient of The Charles Bowden Award from New Dramatists and The Josephine Abady Award from The League of Professional Theatre Women. Her work has been presented and developed at the Working Theater, NYTW, New Georges, HERE, The Lark, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, and PS122, among others. More at www.tamilla.com.

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