PRISONCORE! to Premiere At Exponential Festival This January

The boundaries of physical and digital worlds blur in PRISONCORE!, an exciting new play by emerging playwright kanishk pandey. This audacious and genre-bending piece invites audiences to experience a dystopian universe where human agency and the digital frontier collide.

Set in a high-tech prison inspired by a panopticon, PRISONCORE! centers around Lucky (played by Rory Kulz), the institution's newest night guard, and Rain (played by Kayla Juntilla), a virtual blackjack dealer presented solely as a cute 2-D V-Tuber model. As Lucky attempts to assert control and "reform" his inmates - the audience, his dependence on a sense of order and logic is tested. Meanwhile, as Rain is forced to be conscious of the atrocities committed in prison, she must come to terms with who is sacrificed and who is allowed to be "free."

The play activates the audience by addressing them as the inmates of this eerie, panoptic environment. Characters interact with the digital realm in unexpected and visually arresting ways, using screens and avatars to comment on surveillance, power, and digital isolation. All brought to life by the work of Alisa Rabin (stage manager), Lissa Carandang-Sweeney (costume design), Ariana Cardoza (sound design), Lauren Serafica (media design), and Kelvin Pater (set and lighting Design).

Directed by Rachel Gita Karp, PRISONCORE! benefits from her expertise in activist performance and boundary-pushing storytelling. Karp has directed political works through The Drama League, Clubbed Thumb, and Ars Nova.

PRISONCORE! pushes the boundaries of traditional theater by integrating themes of gamification, digital personas, and societal control. It asks the question: what does it mean to be truly free in the presence of atrocity?

kanishk pandey is a rising voice in contemporary theater, known for pushing boundaries with unique storytelling structures. His work has been recognized by institutions such as the Relentless Playwriting Award, Synecdoche Works, the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Austin Film Festival, and New York Stage and Film. He is a Van Lier Fellow and has had his playwriting supported by companies such as Rattlestick Theater, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Lark, Sanguine Theater, and Boomerang Theater.

Experience the collision of reality and the virtual in PRISONCORE! - a theater experience unlike any you've seen before.

Join us for a one-of-a-kind performance that merges live theater and digital spectacle in a surreal, immersive experience.

Performance Details:

Presented by The Exponential festival

The Brick, Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 579 Metropolitan Avenue Brooklyn NY 11211

(between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street)

Dates: January 2 + 3 at 8 pm, January 4 at 5 pm and 9 pm

 

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